Twins of Essence
by TheLastTscheapwhetzar
Summary: During the Eleventh Season of Supernatural, strange beings and creatures invade Kansas, and soon the Winchesters and other hunters are hurled into a conflict large enough to swallow both heaven and hell. Has tie-ins with the Mysteries of the Q Files.
1. Chapter 1

Scene opens on a highway in the middle of Kansas. There is a small crater in the middle of the road and a field of corn off to the right looks like it has been torn through by something big. Large gouges in the ground show where the monster has scrambled off to. Camera pulls in on the crater and the air begins to distort, as though it is heating up and swirling. A man in a cloak with the hood up walks out of the air and is followed by two velociraptors wearing strange armor, a tall dark knight (known as a Smog Knight), and Wakko Warner. They walk up to the crater and inspect what they see.

"Crap… The Abomination tore free of the tether and stake," the cloaked man says.

Raptor 1 inquires, "How could such a thing be possible?" He gestures a claw at a grey, metal stake in the cement with a noose of purple-glowing rope tied to it. "That stake is made from the same materials to bind Morgoth, and you yourself wove that rope from the enchanted hair of seven veelas. At the very least, it should have slowed the Abomination down for us to get here in time before it escaped!"

"It is obvious that this particular Abomination has a fragment of Tscheapwhetzar's or Whetzarchet's sword in it. It looks like he Corrupted the spell and Willed himself out of it. Great… They seem to be getting smarter," the cloaked man gripes.

"Well, he certainly made a mess of the place. Faboo! Look, tracks," Wakko points out to the others.

"Horned Helm, go take a look and see how far those tracks lead," the man orders. The tall knight nods his head and black smoke erupts from the armor and flies over the field and tracks the marks left by the Abomination.

"Do you think there might be a trap out there," Raptor 2 asks, while the cloaked man walks in the crater and rips the stake out of the ground.

"Can you smell something that stinks of treachery and death in the immediate area," the man replies almost absentmindedly.

"No," the raptors chant in unison.

"Neither do I. Only what reek he left behind."

"It's enough to make one lose his appetite," Wakko complains.

"We both know you could never lose your appetite," Raptor 1 teases.

"And you'd be right, lizard boy!" With that Wakko produces a towering sandwich from his gag bag and proceeds to scarf it down.

"I don't think we are in Kansas anymore, my General," Raptor 2 says.

"Actually, I think that that is precisely where we are," the cloaked man says slowly and begins to turn around. He thrusts his right hand into the folds of his clothes and pulls loose a brilliant sword with a white blade and red electricity running across its whole length. He plunges his sword into the ground and the twisting cords of energy run into the ground and disappear. After a quick moment, they reappear and flow back into the blade. The man uproots his sword and sheathes it. "To be precise, we are in Kansas, basically the middle of nowhere... and in the world of Supernatural."

"Do you think anyone is watching us on the tube right now," Wakko asks.

"If so, let's give them a proper greeting," the man responds. All four begin to smile (the raptors look really weird trying to smile) and wave in different directions.

"Wait, if we are here in the world of Supernatural, does that mean I can go and pick up some babes from a soddy bar," Wakko asks excitedly.

"Your brother would never forgive me, if I let you do that without him," the man says while continuing to wave. "Plus, you are a kids' cartoon, so no. No wenches for you."

The cloud of smoke returns into the armor and all four turn to the knight. It shakes its head.

"This really sucks. We have to scour an entire globe to find this thing, and what could it even be here for!" The first Raptor fumes.

"I wonder if these Abominations have any real goal in mind when they invade other worlds and dimensions," the man muses. "It just all seems so random at times."

"We will have to set a trap for it," the Smog Knight says in a grinding voice. "Bring more warriors here to ensnare it and slay it."

"We will have to set a trap, and more warriors might not be a bad idea," the cloaked man says looking down the road. "But we will have to think about that later. It seems as though we are about to have some company."

Camera shows Dean and Sam Winchester riding in their Impala, listening to Rolling Stone's music. Sam suddenly taps his brother's shoulder.

"Watch out. There's someone on the road ahead."

"Yeah I see them. Probably some really desperate hitchhikers. Nothing but corn for miles around."

Shot from the back shows them approaching the group of five in the road and now the boys can see more clearly what is in front of them. A shot from the front shows their eyes widening in surprise as they draw near.

"Holy crap! What are those things right there? Are those dinosaurs," Dean sputters wildly.

"Is that a cartoon character," Sam says dumbfounded.

They come to a halt right in front of the five misfits, who all stare back at the brothers.

"Sammy, this is probably the work of some kind of Trickster. There is no way that any of this is actually real."

"The pine stakes are in the back of the trunk, Dean."

Dean puts the car into reverse and backs up slowly from the group, which continues to just stand there and stare at the brothers. The cartoon character then bends down and begins to pull a large Coke from his bag and starts guzzling. The other remain immobile. Dean pulls off to the side and the brothers get out of the car, their handguns trained in on the bizarre figures right in front of them.

"Dean…" Sam says nervously.

"I know, these guys are probably meant to distract us. Still, keep your gun on them and shoot anyone that moves."

"What about the cartoon?"

"Hey, now's not the time for another Roger Rabbit reference!"

"It's a legitimate question, Dean! Bullets probably won't work on these guys anyways."

"That is why I am getting the stakes," comes Deans muffled voice from the trunk as he searches for the weapons needed to bring down a Trickster. Just to be safe he also grabs up salt, holy water, and iron.

The cloaked man takes a step forward and Sam shouts, "Don't take another step, or I will shoot!"

The man doesn't listen and Sam reluctantly fires. The man holds up his left hand and the bullet stops in midair. Dean rushed around the side and shouts, "What just happened?"

Sam looks back to brother and says, "He just stopped my bullet."

"What? Like Magneto? Wait, watch out Sammy!"

Dean tries to pull his brother out of the way but a pie hits Sam square in the face and falls to the ground in a crumbled heap, no longer moving. Dean reaches down to pull the splattered pie off of his brother's face and he realizes that it is a cartoon pie. Before he can fully register what is happening, Raptor 1 jumps Dean from behind and knocks him out.

"Excellent work Wakko, Third Tooth," the cloaked man congratulates. He steps up to the incapacitated brothers. "Horned helm, you talked about needing more soldiers. I cannot think of any better recruits from this world as the Winchester Brothers. We'll have to extend a Contract to them."

"The Guardians will not be pleased that you are interfering so much in another world," Raptor 2 says.

"They can deal with it. This is my hunt, and these hunters make perfect recruits. Horned Helm suggested a trap and an idea is coming to me now. Quickly, check their phones and whatever else you can find on them."

The others approach the Impala and begin ransacking it, looking for phones, planners, and anything else. The cloaked man reaches into one of the many pockets lining his cloak and pulls out what looks like a very large Easter egg with strange marking all over it. He opens it up and a scarab comes out of the egg. He drops the bug on Dean and it burrows into his head, but leaves no trace of its entrance.

"Sorry boys, but I cannot have you remembering this meeting."

He reaches into his pockets again and produces an ancient and intricate hourglass. He begins to turn it rapidly and then says, "I hope you survive this. Otherwise, I doubt I will ever be forgiven for interfering in your world."

Roll Supernatural credits with the background exploding into flames and the letters appearing in blood as it drips down the screen.


	2. Chapter 2

Zooming shot of the Impala in a parking lot outside of a diner named Juicy Joe's. It is clear that front seats are reclined and the brothers are sleeping. Shot inside the car shows Sam waking up slowly and feeling groggy. He squints and looks at his surroundings and then jerks in surprise. He grabs Dean and shakes him awake.

"What?" Dean says sleepily.

"That's what I want to say: What? Dean, last I checked we were driving through Kansas to get to Sulphur, Oklahoma. Where are we?"

"By the smell of it, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, Sulphur. But… When?"

Sam gets out of the car and feels the hood of the car.

"It's cold, so we were probably out for a while."

"Are you suggesting that Baby doesn't have a fast cooling system?"

Sam looked over to his brother with a no nonsense look, "No, it's just… This makes no sense!"

"Well Sammy," Dean squints in the direction of the diner, "I am starving. Can't think on an empty stomach. Let's get our bearings and then get to work. Afterwards we can figure out what happened to us."

He starts heading in the direction of the diner.

"Wait, Dean! What if what happened to us is a part of this case?"

Dean looks back and cocks his head to the side.

"Really Sam? Since when has a case involving people spontaneously combusting also had an element of amnesia and teleportation?"

"That's what I mean, we could be dealing with anything here. We need to be cautious and consider everything."

"You're right, little brother, and you now what? I can only consider the unexplained when I have some greasy grub knocking around in my gut. Food first, questions later. Now if only this place had a more appetizing name…"

Sam shakes his head in amusement and frustration before following Dean into the diner.

Sam and Dean are driving back to the Bunker in Lebanon, Kansas and are talking.

"Another witch on the run from Rowena. Her whole 'Omega Coven' doesn't seem to be working out for her."

"Yeah, it's a sucky name," Dean says dryly.

"Yeah, and her bad recruiting is good for us, and yet at the same time, not really. Witches are fleeing and causing all kinds of havoc in their wake. This one was particularly nasty."

"You have no room to say anything about that business back there being nasty!"

"Oh, so we are going to talk about what happened? I thought you were too embarrassed to ever bring that up again, even if it did save your life."

"No, we are never talking about that, ever! And the words "juicy" and "joe" should never be used in the same sentence. I mean it, Sammy!"

Sam just smirks to himself as they pull up to the Bunker. That look quickly turns into a frown as there is a black sedan already in front of the entrance. Both brothers get flashbacks to previous times when the Bunker has been visited by unwanted company. They pull out their guns and approach cautiously. The door is closed, but not locked.

"I thought we left Cas behind to watch the place. Why are there visitors here," Dean asks Sam.

They share a look, not wanting to contemplate the worst, and then enter the Bunker. They proceed slowly and quietly and begin to hear someone laughing. As they come to the stairs they peer down to find Castiel with two others playing poker. Both men are in pinstriped suits, with one sporting a fedora and the other has a wiry beard and large, dark sunglasses. Castiel looks up and says, "Ah, Dean, Sam, these gentlemen have been waiting for you."

"A pity that you didn't come later," the man with the fedora says. "Castiel and I were having a very entertaining conversation about the nature of deity. We have to stop, now that you have both arrived."

"Well, don't stop just for us," Sam says warily.

"I'm sorry, but business before pleasure," the man comments in a sing-song voice.

Castiel looks annoyed and complains to the brothers, "This man refuses to accept the word of an angel on how Heaven works, the nature of angels, and how God is supposed to treat his children and all of creation."

"Oh, you mean how he abandons them," Dean shoots back angrily. "Cas, why did you let these guys in?"

"Really, Dean," Castiel says sounding very agitated.

"We asked nicely," the fedora man says. He gets up and walks towards the brothers. "My name is Lance Lebowski. This here is my partner, Bernard Minsk."

"Really?" Dean looks at the two with disbelief and frustration.

Sam looks unconvinced himself. He raises his gun a little higher and says, "Stop where you are. How can we trust you? Just because you got into the Bunker doesn't mean that you are not some kind of monster or villain trying to get at our stuff here."

"You are very wise to be so careful around men like myself," Lance says taking off his hat in a sweeping motion, revealing shortly cropped shock, blond hair, and bowing slightly. "I believe that you have met others in my profession. A Bella Legoski, I believe."

"Wait, you knew and worked with Bella," Dean demands.

"Yes, but don't worry. My associate and I are not here to rob you of anything. We are actually hoping you can help with a case of our own," Lance responds diplomatically. He motions to the bearded man, who then pulls out from under the table a briefcase. Lance reseats himself. The Winchesters approach the table hesitantly and then sit down.

"Let me cut straight to the chase gentlemen: There is an ancient creature that has been stalking around the U.S., killing people in very unique ways. Now, we have reason to believe that this monster uses some magical devices that we would love to get our hands on-"

"Sure, to sell to the highest, deranged bidder. Or maybe even a demon," Dean cuts in. He is not happy with these guys at all.

"That is our business. But don't worry, unlike Bella was, we are very careful about whom we deal with. Take that as a compliment, because if we did not trust your professionalism, we would not be here. That is how we both have survived for so long."

"You don't seem really old yourself, if you don't mind me saying," Sam says.

"These men are not ordinary," Castile adds. "I am not sure what it is about them. They are not like anything I have encountered before, but they have something that is prolonging their lives."

"A trade secret, I'm afraid. Not allowed to divulge it, even if I wanted to," Lance replies. "But back to the matter at hand. This monster, according to our research has been the cause for hundreds of deaths over its long career. We would like you to find it and kill it for us. We are willing to pay 200,000 dollars up front."

At this, the other man opens the briefcase. Sam notices a very interesting ring on the man's finger. The man turns the case around to reveal wads of cash.

"Feel free to count it; we won't be offended by it," Lance says lazily.

"What makes you think that we would accept your money," Dean asks suspiciously.

"As I understand it, most hunters don't accept cash in payment for what they do. Very charitable of you to be sure. So instead, you run credit card fraud. The problem is that you could be hunted down and caught for such actions. It is becoming more and more common among hunters these days, and we would hate to see you behind bars. This payment is upfront for killing the beast. We will pay you accordingly for each magical item you bring back from the monster."

"How do you know that we just won't take your money and run," Dean says tauntingly. "You're right. We don't accept money for what we do, especially when it comes from people who deal in objects that should be kept out of people's hands!"

"I know where you are coming from, but like I said, we are not Bella. How about we give you a loan, to show our support for you in completing this case?"

Lance motions to his companion once more and the man reveals a duffle bag and removed a short sword. It is made of black metal with red inscriptions along both handle and blade. The edges of the blade itself are coated in something silver.

Sam curiously wonders, "What kind of weapon is that?"

Lance explains, "This is a cobalt sword. Those weak buggers are useless in most fights, but they know a few tricks with magic. The sword is enchanted to break through most barriers and armors. We then coated it with the metal of angel blade."

"What!?"

Castiel looks angry at this.

"Not to worry. We did not kill any angels to acquire the blade. After the angels were cast from heaven, we retrieved a dozen or so blades from the deceased angels, who perished in the Fall. Normally an angel's sword would be _priceless_. But when there so many running around, their value decreases. So we upped the scarcity, and made this sword priceless itself in the process. This weapon will now kill just about anything that walks this earth. We will give it to you to use in this particular hunt, but we will require it back."

"I think that we can manage without your help," Dean states.

Lance and his partner rise to leave.

"Well, we have given you the opportunity to take our offer. It will stand for 24 hours. If you are still here by tomorrow this time, we will take back the sword and the money. Good day."

The two gangster-looking men begin to leave, but Lance turns back and calls, "The information for the case is also in the briefcase. Give it some time, and mull it over. But remember, you only have 24 hours. Should you turn this case, down, we will find others. You Winchesters are amazing hunters, but you are not _unique_ nor _priceless_." He gives the brothers a menacing grin.

With that, the two mysterious handlers leave the Bunker.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, how do you like that," Dean asks rhetorically. "Now we've got some goons who want us to do their dirty work. I thought that we had seen the end of these kinds of jokers after Bella, but apparently, there's more of them!"

"Cas, why did you even let them in," Sam inquires of his angel friend, a little concerned.

"I'm not entirely sure… It's all really fuzzy. I just remember that I felt like I was supposed to let them in. They were… friendly," Cas recounts slowly. He is obviously embarrassed at his slip up.

"Great, now we know that those two asshats can work some freaky mojo on angles and bypass the security of the Bunker," Dean fumes.

"We'll have to see how we can beef up the Bunker's defenses," Sam says pragmatically.

"I'll do that," Dean say. "And you can help me with it Cas. Sammy, check out what those goons left us. I don't want to take their money, but there might just be a legitimate case in there. If so, then we need to do what we do best, and then take care of Lebowski and friend later."

Sam agrees and he goes over to the briefcase as Dean and Castiel go off to take care of research and spells. He is visibly impressed by the amount of cash these men have offered up to them to kill whatever they were talking about. He begins shifting the wads of bills and finds a couple of manila files underneath all of the money. He pulls them out and inspects their contents. One is full of pictures of missing persons dating back at least forty years consecutively. Another contains reports from people saying that they heard someone singing a creepy song about being lost in the woods, where many of these people have vanished. What intrigues Sam is that these disappearances and accounts have been happening all over the United States and parts of Canada. The third folder contains someone's notes regarding these disappearances.

Sam begins to read the note and a look of concern dawns on him. He gets up and goes to Dean and Castiel, who are standing around a large bowl with ingredients and stacks of spellbooks.

"What's up Sam? Does it look like our kind of case?"

"I'm not entirely sure. According to the notes that those guys gave us, some kind of monster has been abducting people all over the country for at least forty years. The victims are never seen again, people have heard strange singing in the woods at time where the people were supposedly taken, and there have also been sightings of a man with an old gas lantern. But there is nothing to connect any of the victims or places together. Also, it is believed that whoever has been doing this has been active for at least a hundred and fifty years. This is where the sightings of the man with the lantern change. The notes suggest it might not be the same person."

"Then it's just humans being sick. An ancient siller killer and a couple generations of copycats," Dean says dismissively. "It seems like a lot of sloppy research."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound like anything we have encountered before… But, I got this uneasy feeling while reading the material."

"If you ask me, the whole seems kind of fishy. It stinks. Tomorrow, when those guys come back, and this time they will not get in, we will give them back their money and the blade and be done with it all. Actually, let's see if we can haggle and keep the sword. I kinda want to see how effective it is." He says this with a smirk.

Sam shrugs, "I guess we can see what happens. This case is intriguing. Maybe we could check into it on our own, you know, without having to work with those want to be gangsters. Because, I think that there just might be something there…"

"Well then, I'd say that it's best that we first asshat-proof the Bunker, and then we can decide what to do about the case. But we are agreed, we won't work with these guys right."

Sam nods in sharp affirmation.

Slight scene change, the brothers and Castiel are painting glyphs within the entrance of the Bunker.

"Well, that should just about do it," Dean says. "And if these guys don't do the trick, then Sam's spell should work. Nice work finding that, by the way."

"Yeah, don't mention it," Sam replies while finishing up a glyph.

"I'm going to assume that since you are already back and that we are focusing on these men, that your hunt in Sulphur went well," Castiel asks.

Dean's face falls a little and Sam begins to laugh.

"Don't you dare talk about it!" He gestures a threatening finger at Sam.

Later that evening, Sam pulls Castiel aside and whispers to him, "Ok, so we went down to Sulphur and the first place we go is a diner called Juicy Joe's."

"That sounds like the name of a 70's porn star," Castiel comments, totally straight faced.

Sam gives Castiel an exasperated look, but continues, "You've been spending too much time with Dean. Anyway, he ordered their sloppy joe, and scarfs the monster of a heart attack down. But it starts giving him cramps and bubbles in his gut. But you know Dean, he just tries to muscle through it.

"Well, the case itself was really fast. Apparently, all of those people spontaneously combusting were being cursed by a witch couple. The man was a doctor and his wife was a charity woman giving out cookies. Apparently, they hid really tiny hex bags in the pills and cookies and would kill people who they thought were annoying. And these witches were well prepared. They had an alarm spell set up around the town to go off whenever hunters drew too close. The wife approached us with some delicious looking cookies and Dean went right on ahead and ate one."

"Dean's capacity to ingest food is a miracle only God could explain," Castiel mutters.

"Yeah, but in this case, he threw up suddenly all over the witch. He mouth was open from the shock and got some of the cookie in her mouth. Apparently this particular hex bah was pretty potent, because after a few shocked seconds, she burst into flames. We quickly ran, and Dean grabbed some more cookies. At the motel, we opened them up and found the tiny bags."

Sam starts laughing quietly. "The look on Dean's face when he realized that he killed a witch by vomiting in her face was priceless."

"Sickening…"

"Well, the husband came after us that very night for revenge, but we managed to gank him, because he just wasn't thinking too clearly. The next day, we did our whole FBI routine to divert suspicion from us and to find just what exactly they had been up to. Apparently, they had a nice invitation from Rowena to join her Omega Coven. We figured they declined, but it was ripped up. We also found the tiny hex bags, with more cookies and pills."

Castiel remains contemplative, "I wonder how they managed to make such small hex bags? Such a measure would be very advantageous to witches like Rowena"

"That's probably why she was trying to recruit them, we think."

"Hey! Are you telling him about what happened!?"

Dean enters the kitchen angrily. Castiel and Sam exchange worried looks and try to cover.

"N-N-No… I was actually asking Castiel's opinion on our sudden episode of amnesia," Sam says hurriedly.

Castiel gives the brothers a shocked and inquisitive look, before saying, "I cannot think of the top of my head, what could do that to you and why. Except for maybe angels, but there hasn't been anything other comments about the Darkness on angel radio."

Dean gives them a suspicious look and before asking, "Maybe it was the Darkness that did it to us. Amara is like what, a teenager at the moment? How do we not know that she wasn't playing around with us? Teenagers are class A jerks."

Sam looks thoughtful but then says, "But why would she do that us right now? I mean, our case had really nothing to do with her."

"Because she's a confusing and vindictive brat," Dean says resolutely. "We probably can't remember what happened to us, because whatever it was that happened on the road was a part of some master plan that she doesn't want us figuring out!"

A quick flashback takes us to when Dean first met the Darkness. Flash back and Dean now looks a little more disturbed. Sam doesn't look entirely convinced.

"Maybe I can try to discover what happened," Castiel suggests while raising his fingers to Dean's forehead. "I can try to repair whatever memories have been damaged. It might not work if the Darkness is involved, but it is worth a try."

"Lay it on me Cas. I want to find out what that tramp has been doing in our minds," Dean says resolutely. Castiel taps Dean's brow and concentrates.

"There's a problem here… You memories haven't been erased, but your brain, Dean… It was damaged and then skillfully repaired, but in such a way as to remove select memories," Castiel explains slowly. He seems disturbed. "This is really strange. I can heal deficiencies, but technically, this isn't one, so I am not sure if I can fully restore what you have lost. Sam, I will need to try with you, too."

Sam walks over to his angel friend and is also tapped on the forehead.

"It is identical," Castiel states.

"So, can you fix it," Sam ask.

"Let's see what I can do. No promises," and with that Castiel uses his Grace to try and restore the Winchester's memories. The angel glows as he concentrates and the boys flinch a little.

"Well, is anything beginning to come back to you?"

Sam and Dean pause a moment to think.

"We were driving to Oklahoma when we saw someone, or something, in the middle of the road, and then…" Dean struggles to remember.

"There was this guy, with some kind of cloak and hood on… We… confronted him… I think," Sam says speculatively.

"Wait, that sounds about right," Dean suddenly chimes in. "I remember that our gun magazines weren't full when we first arrived in Sulphur. A rookie mistake, I thought, but now, maybe we shot at the guy."

"Yeah, that sounds about right, we both didn't have full magazines. It was odd, but nothing that was too disturbing," Sam agreed.

"Anything else out of the ordinary," Castiel asks. The boys shake their heads.

"Though, I'm beginning to remember… pies," Sam says bewildered. "But I didn't have any food on me when we woke up, and we were starving, at least Dean was. So, did we fight pies, eat pies, what?"

"Maybe a clown came after you," Dean jokes.

Sam throws him a reproachful look and then continues, "A pie, a man in a cloak, shots fired, teleportation, and…? I also vaguely remember… Dinosaurs."

"Seriously," Dean splutters. "Dinosaurs? I dunno Cas, maybe there is something wrong with Sammy's melon."

"No, I made sure that you are both perfectly fine," Cas say, not picking up on the subtle humor. "Your memories have been very well taken. Clearly you have fuzzy glimpses of what transpired, but nothing else. I am not sure that this is the Darkness. You say you saw a man? Both of you remember this?"

The boys nod their heads again and Sam answers, "Yes."

"Then maybe we have a new enemy, but we cannot rule out the Darkness yet," Castiel determines.

"Then I guess it's back to the lore," Sam sighs.

"And it's back to the frig with me," Dean says greedily. "I am starving!"

"I wonder why," Castiel says under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Castiel says innocently.

Dean gives him another suspicious glare and then jabs a finger at Sam, "Remember. Not a word of Juicy Joe's to anyone!"

Sam retorts, "I thought you were the one who said that those two words could never again be used in the same sentence."

Dean throws a wet rag at his brother's head.


	4. Chapter 4

The brothers are asleep in their beds after a fulfilling dinner of steak, seasoned potatoes, and some beer. Dean is happily lying in his bunk, content that this food will not upset his stomach. Zoom in on his face as the smile fades and is replaced with a frown and sweat as strange sounds begin to arise. Cut to Sam who is also resting peacefully, but begin to squirm and sweat as he hears similar noises and the camera zooms in on his tortured face.

Cut to a super close up on Dean's eyes as they open and he finds himself in a swirling mist. The sounds have intensified and he hears multiple screams and crazed, deep laughter. The voice is almost impossible deep. His dad stumbles out of the mist with a scared look on his face.

"Dean! Quick, help me!"

A figure wrapped in moldering rags appears behind John Winchester and cleaves his head open with a large, ancient ax. The mist quickly devours them before Dean can even take two steps forward to help his dad.

"Dean, son… Please… Help me."

He spins around to see his lovely mother emerging from the swirling gray and rushes back to save his mom. Just before he reaches her, the stranger pops out behind Mary Winchester and brings the ax down on her back. Once again, the mist covers the scene and Dean is left alone with the screams and the laughter.

Cut to Sam who is in the same mist. He spins on the spot and yells out, "Who's there?"

"It me, Sam. Please… Help me before he gets me."

Beside Sam, Jessica, his first girlfriend, stumbles out of the mist and fixes him with tear filled eyes.

"Oh Sam, he's after me," she sobs.

Sam rushed forward to hold her.

"Jessica, who is-"

An comes out of the mist and catches Jessica in the hip and bring her down. The same ragged man from Dean's dream reaches out of the gray and pulls Jessica out of sight.

"No!" Sam yells,

"Sam… No," John's voice says from behind. Sam looks back to his father.

"Dad," he says breathlessly. "What is going on here? What is this place?"

Before John can respond to his son, he is beheaded by the rag-clad man and the mist swallows them up.

Cut back to Dean, who has had to watch Bobby, Kevin, Charlie, and Benny all get slain before his eyes by the same man.

"What is going on here! Stop killing these people and face me yourself! Come on you coward! Let the dead rest in peace!"

The laughter and screams die down and a sweet voice cuts through the mist, "Dean, you and Sam need to find the Beast. Stop him before he kills more people ruins more lives."

"Who are you? Are these visions your doing?"

"I would never try to cause you so much pain. These visions are from another. Please, go with Sam. Stop the Beast. Beware the Vortex…"

Dean looks confused and angry. "Can't you give me more than that?"

"Good bye, Dean."

Dean hears something behind and spins around once more. He sees Sam fall out of the mist and look up at his brother. "Oregon," he says, before the ax takes him the chest and he is pulled back into the mist.

"Sammy no!"

Cut back to Sam, who watches Bobby get slain by the ax bearing man.

"Whoever, or whatever is doing this, show yourself," Sam calls out, fidgeting while raising his fists.

The noise dies down as Sam hears the same voice as Dean heard, "Sam, find the Beast. He will try to kill you, but you have to stop him or else…"

"Or else what?" Sam calls out to the mist. "Just who are you?"

The deep voice returns even stronger and begins to sing, "Come wayward souls, who wander through the darkness, there is a light for the lost and weak. Sorrow and fear are easily forgotten when you submit to the soil of the earth!"

Sam looks really disturbed by this message and begin to back away until he realizes that he is still surrounded by the mist.

"Show yourself," Sam calls again. "Are you the Beast, or something else?"

"Grow tiny seed, you are gone from the tree. Rise till your leaves fill the sky, until your sighs fill the air in the night. Lift your mighty limbs and give praise to the fire," the deep voice sings in response.

"What does any of that mean," Sam asks.

"It means, it's time to die," Dean says as he walks out of the mist in front of Sam. He is carrying the large ax and a strange lantern. Dean smiles wickedly at his brother as he bounds forward and swings at Sam's neck.

"No Dean, stop!" Sam yells to his bedroom ceiling. he is covered in a cold sweat and rolls out of bed, beginning to dry heave a little. He manages to quickly compose himself, before he gets up and walks to the door. He opens it to find Dean standing there, looking as ragged as he feels. He jumps back a little in fright.

"Dean, what's the matter," he stammers.

"I just had a… never mind, what's the matter with you!?"

"You first, you look like you had another attack of the Juicy Joe's."

"We promised that we would never talk about that again."

"Fine, I just had a really, really bad dream," Sam begins. "I was in a place with tons of mist. like I mean fog, everywhere. I saw… I saw Jessica, dad, Bobby, Charlie, everyone close to us get brutally murdered with an ax. And the guy with the ax, he was… I dunno… Just-"

"There was something really off about him. Like a mummy, or something like that."

Sam looks up in shock and says, "Wait, you had the same dream?"

"Probably, but continue. Did you hear that crazy laugh?"

"Yeah, and the voice also sang to me…"

Dean gives Sam his skeptical and incredulous half glare. "Wait, you got sung to? Like a demented lullaby?"

Sam looks concerned, "No, it was a song about… Wayward souls… and a tree…. Wait, I know where that sounds familiar!"

Sam takes off down the hall to where the briefcase and the case's details are still on the table. He begins rifling through the paperwork and the files. He finds what he is looking for and says, "Look Dean, there are two reports about a song being sung in the woods about wayward souls. Did you have the same dream, hear the same song?"

"No, There was just the crazy laughter, and everyone getting killed, and then there was this young woman's voice."

"You heard that as well?"

"Yeah, she warned me to not go to the Vortex. Wherever or whatever that is… She also said that what I was seeing was from someone. Her voice was familiar, but I swear I've never heard that girl's voice before."

"Same here," Sam says contemplatively. "She never mentioned the Vortex to me. She was cut off short by the song. But she said that we need to find the Beast."

"Yeah, apparently it's something we have to gank," Dean grumbled. "How the hell did this happen to us. We have similar dreams, but with certain, subtle differences. How did your dream end?"

"Well, it… It ended with you trying to kill me. You were then the one wielding the ax, and not the mummy guy, and you had some kind of ancient lantern. Like… Like the one here in the case."

"Really? Was I trying to cut you up for talking about that heathen diner?"

"No… You said, 'It's time to die.'"

Dean looks more concerned now and says, "You know, you were also in my dream. But you weren't try to gank me. Instead you screamed, 'Oregon.'"

"Why would I say that," Sam wonders

"I have no freakin' clue," Dean grumbles. "Normally I would chalk this up to some bad dream, but there are too many similarities for this to be a coincidence. Arg, it looks like it's time to do research."

Hurray," Sam says wearily.


	5. Chapter 5

It's early morning when Castiel comes out of his room, where he has been catching up on Downton Abbey and finds the brothers asleep at the table, books and notes strewn everywhere. He gives them an exasperated look, but lets them sleep as he walks over to observe what they have been working on. He pulls out one particular paper next to Sam and sees a crude drawing of some kind of monster with antlers and the scribblings of a crazy poem regarding wayward souls. He squints in puzzlement and concern at the boys have working on. He notices the briefcase is open with the money piled up outside of the case.

Suddenly, Sam's head pops up and he says groggily, "No, no more sloppy joes…"

"Bad dream, Sam," Cass deadpans.

"Wha- Oh that was nothing, just a really odd dream," Sam answers as his eyes rove back and forth somewhat embarrassed. The angel lets the matter drop.

"So you and Dean appear to have reconsidered the case," Castiel observes.

"Yeah Cass, we both had these crazy dreams last night. Simultaneously and nearly identical. Something from the dream reminded me of what I had read earlier and so we began going through everything."

Sam brings his computer back to life as Dean get up and says sleepily, "Good morning cupcakes. I'm going to brew us a very strong cup of coffee."

Lethargically, Dean gets up and moves towards the kitchen while Sam turns his laptop to Cass, so he can see what the brothers have discovered.

"This looks like tourist trap, Sam," Castiel remarks.

"Yeah, the Vortex in Oregon is now a tourist trap, but from what we could gather from the notes Lance left us, a creature, who we are now referring to as the Beast, most likely originated out of Oregon. Specifically in the area around the Vortex. He has been moving around the country now for well over a hundred years killing people."

"Lance wanted you both to retrieve something from this creature. Did you confirm what it might be," Castiel inquires.

Sam looks a little disconcerted as he explains, "Well, based on the dreams Dean and I had, we think that we are looking for a giant ax and some kind of old-timey lantern. We don't yet know their significance, but we do have a little more to go off of."

He retrieves the paper Castiel had been looking at earlier.

"Based on what few accounts of this monster exist, where someone has caught a glimpse of him, he looks like some kind of humanoid being with antlers. At first we were considering the possibility that we were dealing with a wendigo, but two other accounts claim that there was an accomplice to the Beast. In one particular case, a known lumberjack, Mr. Lewis, was believed to be following the monster during one disappearance and himself vanished soon after two more murders. No bodies were ever recovered, just a few discarded personal belongings and a lot of blood."

"So maybe a possession," Castiel postulates.

"That could be the case, but still, we are not positive that that is true either. In the dream we had, a man wearing rags used the ax to kill people close to us. But the evil laughter that prevaded throughout the dream belonged to something larger and more evil. We believe that to be the Beast," Sam answers.

"And what is this disturbing poem?"

"That was the serenade Sam was given in his dream," Dean answers as he exits the kitchen with a bowl of cereal.

"This is what the Beast sang to me… It was haunting and beautiful, but obviously evil," Sam says.

"It disturbs me that you found that song 'beautiful', downright creepy would be my description," Dean says flatly.

Castiel looks at the both of them and asks one more time, "So you are both going to take on this case from Lance? I thought that you two, especially you Dean, wouldn't work for money or for people who trade in these dangerous objects and curses."

"Yeah, we don't," Dean says emphatically. "But what we experienced last night feels like a clear sign that we need to check this out. Maybe we have been marked by the Beast thing, or maybe it's some" hellish-heavenly" intuition mumbo jumbo, or anything else, but we have to take care of this."

"It might not be safe to proceed until you know and understand the origin of your nightmares. It all seems… fishy to me," Castiel interjects.

"Well Cass, no matter what, this is a dangerous job, but the evidence is all there. Plus, if we take this job, instead of someone else, we can make sure that evil objects don't fall into the hands of people like Lance and his partner."

"But what if they fight you for whatever you find? They seem like dangerous men.," Castiel counters.

"Cass, if you haven't noticed it after all of these years, Sam and I are pretty dangerous men ourselves," Dean says confidently. "I think we can handle those two goons."

Cass nods his head, but still looks worried. He casts his eyes on the bizarre weapon the dealers gave the Winchesters the day before.

Later that day, a sound like a gong goes off. The brothers and Castiel have been waiting for this. Dean and Sam have their guns ready and Castiel hides his blade up his sleeve. They go to the front door and find Lance and Bernard with two other gangsters, who seem to be there in case things turn ugly.

Lance smiles at the hunters and remarks mockingly, "Well, well, it looks as though the two famous hunters are not going to take our little job. What was the reason? Against your moral code?... Too scared, perhaps?"

Dean scowls angrily and says, "Look pal, we are going to take your case! We-"

"We will do it, but we needed to quickly talk with you about some details," Sam cuts in, before his older brother starts a real fight. "There are some things about the case that your files are not clear on."

"Oh," says Lance with surprise.

"Yeah, like why didn't you jerks try barging into our home again? Huh? Too much for you? Or were you perhaps… too scared," Dean taunts.

"I don't see what this had to do with the job, Dean Winchester," Lance says calmly as he adjusts his cufflinks. "But to answer your question, we were being polite. We heard the sound and realized that you had put some wards. Honestly, you didn't have to go through the trouble just for us."

Dean looks livid, but Sam keeps a cool head and presses on, "Well, thanks for not breaking in again, but really we have some questions. Can you answer them?"

Lance fixes Sam with a lazy gaze and says, "Certainly. Fire away."

"Do nightmares proceed one's meeting the Beast, or is it all part of the hunt?"

"What do you mean?"

"... Dean and I had similar dreams about the Beast in the files. Nightmares more like it."

Lance actually looks surprised and then scowls. He looks back at Bernard and asks, "Have crazy dreams ever been a part of this monster's repertoire before?"

Bernard shakes his head and says in a surprisingly high pitched voice, "Never. The Beast is more direct with how he kills. Dreams have never been recorded before by anyone associated with the disappearances. I don't know why they would have similar nightmares, but it's not associated with this creature."

Dean asks, "So you wouldn't have a clue then?"

Lance thinks for a moment and then answers, "This is troubling. In our line of work, we stay alive and make a profit because we keep ourselves informed. If this has never happened before, then maybe someone else or something else is involved… That is troubling. I would then suggest that if you are going to take on our little job, that you work quickly before these dreams get out of hand, or so that you can find an answer. Sorry, but that's all we got."

"Great," Dean mutters as he rolls his eyes. "That brings us then to our second question: do you even know what the item or items are that this Beast carries? And why they are so valuable to you?"

"That's two questions, actually," Lance says smugly.

"Don't test me, boy," Dean warns.

Lance sticks his hands into his pockets and states, "We believe that the creature has both an ax and a lantern. Both of which we assume are important and powerful, but we are not entirely certain. We want them for their rarity, which is enhanced by the legacy and history they and their owner have. Once you bring them to us, we will make sure that they are properly tested before we put them on the market.

And relax, all of our buyers know not to use what we sell them unwisely. If even at all. They are more like special trophies than actual tools. Sure, Bella sold to people who wanted to use the items often, but we represent a more serious clientele. Hopefully, that puts your minds at ease."

The brothers exchange looks, while Castiel scowls at the men.

"Alright, we will do it," Dean says.

"Excellent," Lance says happily and loudly. He pulls a business card out of his pocket. "Give this number a ring when you have completed the job and have the items in question. We will then retrieve them and the sword and you will be paid at that time."

"We won't take anymore money from you, in fact, you can have the rest back," Dean spits out.

"That's your money now, but if you don't want more, than we will be more than happy to oblige," Lance says as he turns around. he and his companions walk off to their black sedan. The boys watch them drive off and disappear into the distance before returning to the Bunker.

"There is something really off about those men, and that Bernard character in particular," Castiel says.

"Other than his crazy creepy voice? I agree with you," Dean replies.

"You don't really intend on giving them the stuff they want, do you," the angel asks.

"Nope, as we discussed earlier, we will double cross them and make sure that no one gets their hands on cursed objects. We will try to destroy the ax and lantern and whatever else before we come back. We give them back their weird sword and everything is finished."

"What if they find out?"

"Don't worry Cass," Sam consoles. "We got this. Those guys may have some powers and connections of their own, but so do we. Trust me."

"What do you want me to do," Castiel asks.

"Look after the Bunker while we're gone," Sam says. "Just in case they try to come back in by breaking the wards."

The angel agrees as Dean then strikes a pose and in best imitation of Gaston says, "Let's kill the Beast!" Sam snorts in laughter at his brother.


	6. Chapter 6

A small family huddles together in the center of the salt circle staring into the eyes of long dead, murderous dentist. He raises his bloody pliers meant to for tearing out teeth, and in his most recent cases brains, and rages at his inability to get at the family. He looks to the living room windows and nods vigorously, causing them to suddenly burst open. Wind gushes in and blows away the protective barrier of salt and the ghost stalks forward. The father holds his two daughters close as the specter descends on them, only to be blasted away as Roberta Woods swings through his midsection with an iron fire stoker.

The ghost shrieks and is gone for just a second to reappear behind her. The girls call out for her to dodge and she somersaults away from the bloody pliers.

"A little more speed would be nice," she yells to her partner Liz Perry.

Cut to Liz who is down in the basement of the house and is prying out the loose boards in the wall to expose the decaying body of the rabid dentist.

"Just keep up the good work," she yells back and she pulls a large container of salt from her side bag and dumps the contents on the body before reaching for her gasoline.

Meanwhile Roberta is doing her best to avoid the vengeful ghost as he keeps disappearing and reappearing behind in an attempt to catch her. She keeps dancing out of the way and manages to get in a few good hits with the poker.

"Get that salt and make the circle again," she screams at the family. "Don't step out of it until we are done with Mr. Bloody Smile."

"Oh, so you do know my name. How sweet of you," the ghost rasps, his eyes greedy for the kill, but then a realization dawns on his face. "No!"

He appears right behind Liz as she lights the match and throws it onto his moldering body. He screams out in pain and defeat as he vanishes in a flash of flames.

"Hmm… Maybe I should get a fire extinguisher, you know, just in case," Liz says absently to herself out loud.

Calmly, she begins to look around until she finds an ancient one covered in layers of dust. She brushes it off and heaves it up when Roberta comes down the steps.

"Good to see you cleaning up after yourself for a change," she teases as Liz puts out the fire.

"The Stevensons will probably want to think about moving to another home after of all of this," Liz says.

"You think!?"

After they help the family clean up, the two hunters make their way to their blue Dodge Charger. The two women stand at similar heights, around 5'7" and well built for the job, as well as being CW-sexy. Liz wears her brown hair long and sports an over-large jacket, while Roberta has a stylish pixie cut for her blonde hair and wears a myriad of flannel. They are both packing some serious heat on their person and in their car. Roberta gets behind the wheel and takes them in the direction of their hotel. It is night.

Along the way, Liz's cell phone begins to ring with the tune of Adventure Time.

"How many times to I have to ask you to change that," Roberta asks a little annoyed.

"Shut it, I like this sweet tune," Liz responds.

"But it's nothing like the classics," her partner grumbles.

"It's professor Cunningham's number," Liz says in surprise.

Roberta flashes her a mischievous grin and then says, "Would you two like some alone time? Should I pull over?"

Liz rolls her eyes and answers the phone, "'Sup Professor?"

"Please help me! You girls have to help me! Something bad has happened here and someone is after me! They want- wait… No! No! Please, come! I'm not sure how long I-"

The call cuts out and Liz stares at her phone is shock and tries calling again, but there is no answer. She looks to her friend and says, "We need to go to San Diego, right now."

"What is it? What happened?" Roberta doesn't tease this time, because she hears the urgency in Liz's voice.

"It looks like Professor Cunningham has gone another stupid thing. He called, but then it cut out and now I can't reach him. But it sounded really bad at first… If he's summoned another monster… I might just let whatever it is take him! But dang it, we need to check it out."

"And here I thought I was actually going to get some beauty rest tonight," Roberta says with her own eye roll. She hits the gas hard as they streak back to their hotel to grab the last of their stuff before making a cross country trip.

Crowley, the king of hell, sits atop his fine throne as he listens to the figures being reported back to him by the members of his court. They are pleased to report that they are meeting their quotas for souls subjected to hell and they are again on an upwards swing. As Crowley condescendingly congratulates them, a new figure enters the court, a young man in a crisp suit with large, dark aviators over his eyes.

"Well, well, well, I have to hand it to you Crowlster, you have an interesting party going on here. Though to be frank, I think your operation is just a tad limited in scale."

The young man flashes a lopsided grin to Crowley who asks one of his aids, "And just who the bloody hell is this wowzer?"

"Desmond, Your Majesty, a low ranking demon," comes the reply.

"Well, not anymore! I saw to it that he got an upgrade in rank," Desmond responds.

"Really? I would beg to differ, Desmond. And why are you referring to yourself in the third person? Explain yourself before I have you flayed a hundred times over before going back to the pit for your insolence."

"Sorry Crowlster, but Desmond is out of commission, you are dealing with me now!'

Crowley does not take kindly to this uppity demon and gets up from his throne and saunters forward dangerously.

"Well, then Mr. Bigshot. Who are you, if not Desmond?"

Desmond reaches out a hand and says, "The name's Bill Cipher. I had to borrow this meat sack so that we could have a proper chat, my Scottish chum!"

"How did you take over my servant? Where is he," Crowley asks, suddenly feeling a little wary.

"Why, he's right here! Hahahaha! Look Crowlster, I know that you are busy being king of the world's crappiest sauna and spa at the moment, but I am a busy guy myself, so I think we can do business quickly. See, I have a proposition for you big guy!"

Crowley comes right up to his former subordinate and says, "Not interested. I do not do business with anyone I do not know, or cannot see. Especially one who is possessing one of my men."

"Even if this business involves the Winchesters?"

Crowley squints at the newcomer and says, "The Winchesters. What business do you have with them exactly?"

Bill Cipher grins through Desmond and replies, "Big things are happening. Have you seen the news about the recent explosion at the Vatican?"

"Yes," Crowley replies curtly. He is not happy to see that those around the court disapprove with his consorting with this strange being called Bill Cipher. He cracks his neck a little and puts on his impatient face and says, "What does that have to do with anything. Last I checked, they were holed up in their precious Bunker."

'Not anymore," Bill responds in a sing-songish voice. "You see, they have taken up a case that will involve a monster that is somewhat related to what happened earlier at the Vatican. That was no explosion, it was a raid. Big, big things are happening in your little world, and I come here to offer you my protection."

"Protection," Crowley says skeptically. "Why would I need protection?"

"Because what I have planned for this world will change EVERYTHING!" Desomonds laughs maniacally. "What the Winchesters are doing is just the tip of the iceberg! Now, the deal I wanted to propose to you is this: Stay here, or in hell, whichever and keep you large, filthy nose out of anything involving the Winchesters or the strange creatures that you will soon hear about all over the globe. Do this, and I can ensure that hell will be left alone in the aftermath of what is happening."

"Am I to be privy to any part of your plans whatsoever," Crowley asks.

"Nope."

"Then we have no deal."

"No worries then! I'll just kill all of you right here right now, before getting on with the next phase of my plans," Bill says with a shrug of Desmond's shoulders.

"I would like to see you try," Crowley retorts. He motions to some of his men to grab the possessed Desmond. "I will devise the best way in which to dispose of you, but until then, my body guards will have their fun with you, understand. And you boys, make sure he loses the aviators; they went out of style right after Tom Cruise sold me his soul to advance another level in Scientology."

Crowley turns away and walks back to his throne as Bill responds, "I guess that I will be annexing the powers of Hell earlier than I thought. Good by Crowlster!"

Desmond snaps his fingers and the mansion in which Crowley's court is housed is torn apart by multiple explosions. Shrapnel bombs filled with the filings and shards of angel blades erupt all around the court, killing the demons within. Desmond is also struck down, but a high pitched laugh prevails over the roaring of the bombs.

Camera pans to show the Impala driving into Leavenworth, Washington. The boys look for a small hotel to spend their stay as they hunt the monster. The town exists in the shadow of a large forest.

"I cannot express enough, Sam, just how much it creeps me out that this beast, monster, whatever-it-is has been killing people in area surrounded by a freakin' huge forest! This thing has been super creepy ever since you first read up on it, and now that we are close to it, on its home turf, I swear I'm getting the creeps!"

Sam looks around and breathes in the cold air.

"You're right. There's a feeling in my stomach that refuses to go away, and it's gotten worse the closer we came here."

"What kind of feeling?"

"Like a slow burn, like when we were kids and tried to see how long we could hold our hands over a candle. It only gets worse the longer you cup your hand over it."

"Oh yeah, I remember those days," Dean says with a smirk. "You were a total wimp and pulled your hand away after ten seconds!"

"Really? You want to walk down that road, Dean," Sam fires back with a smirk of his own, as though his feeling is finally forgotten. "Because if I remember correctly, you got a burn after holding your own hand for too long and then you were whimpering like a little girl with you hand in the sink for a full hour."

"Really, Sammy? You have descended to name calling? If so, this means war!"

"Bring it, Dean," Sam responds with a gleam of mischief in his eye.

The brothers check into their hotel and then unpack. As they are unpacking Sam looks over to Dean and says, "Dean, all joking aside, I really do have a bad feeling. We will have to be very careful."

Dean looks over seriously at his brother and then says, "Ok, Sammy. Now, let's suit up and do the family business."

"Saving people, killing things," Sam finishes.

At the local police station the Winchesters show up in their fine suits and flash their fake FBI badges to the sheriff in charge, a portly, elderly man with a drooping mustache. His own badge reads "Sheriff Winston."

"Sheriff Winston, Agent Stiles," Sam says seriously. "This is my partner, Agent Trigger. We were sent here to investigate the most recent two disappearances."

The elderly sheriff fixes them with a ponderous stare and then says, "Why would the Bureau be interested in what is happening here. With the recent events in D.C. with the White House being broken into and all, I would think that a small town problem such as ours would be of little concern to you boys."

The Winchester share a quick look with one another before Dean says, "We have reason to believe that this case is connected with the disappearances and murders of people all across the country and even across the border. the locations are similar to other cases."

The sheriff did not look convinced. Sam then interjects, "Look, you may be right in thinking that we are here on a whim, and this could be a dead end for us. But if it isn't, then we might be able to catch a killer who has eluded law enforcement for years."

"I see," Winston says. "I would like to see your research and evidence into the matter."

"We would love to help you, sir," Dean says with a large winning smile. "But first, we would like to know if you have anyone who might have been the last people to see the two men who vanished."

"You mean Fred Myers and Brandon Hatch?"

"Yes sir," Sam answers. "It is important that we know who might have been the last to see them. Also, this might sound odd, but have there also been any reports of unnatural noises or… singing, coming from the forest?"

The sheriff beckons to the boys with a resigned look and leads them to his office. Once they are all inside, he closes the door and then whispers, "Damn… So this just might be your case after all."

"Why is that, Sheriff," Sam asks.

The sheriff fixes his wise gaze on the brothers and then answers, "There have been reports of strange music, a single odd song, that have come from the Millers, Reggie Jordan, and old Mrs. Hams, who all live along the national park. They thought it was a some crazy hippies or college kids looking for new grounds to party at. Stupid Reggie, a real piece of work, tried to find them. We caught him wandering in the woods after Mrs. Hams called angrily for third time to complain about the song, calling it creepy and disturbing."

"Did this music start before or after Mr. Myers and Hatch disappeared," Sam inquires.

"The music started before they went up and vanished," Winston says. "You can't tell me they are related."

"Unfortunately they are," Dean answers. "We will need the address to the Miller family, Mrs. Hams, and this Reggie fellow. We will want to question them about what they heard."

"I doubt Reggie will be of much help," the sheriff says gruffly. "But the others should be cooperative. But…"

Sam looks at the sheriff a little worried. "What is the matter Sheriff Winston?"

"It just doesn't make sense… The music and the disappearances… It just doesn't add up. Those men never had any reason to go to where the music has been happening. In fact Jenny Penny said that she last saw Brandon over by Enchanted Park."

"Jenny Penny," Dean says skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm guessing you'll want to interview her then," the sheriff asks.

Dean gives side nod of his head with his signature crooked smile, "Yes, we sure do."

"In any case, the locations of all these weird happenstances just don't seem to add up."

Sam retorts, "Well, we have reason to believe otherwise, but once we are done conducting our own interviews and investigate the park and as the woods, we will be better able to tell what exactly has happened to these people. Hopefully we can find them before anything bad happens."

"Yes, that would be welcome," the sheriff agrees. "I'll make sure that one of my deputies gets all of the contact information and addresses of the witnesses to you. Witnesses… If we can even call them that."

Sheriff Winston leads the brothers out of the office and to one of his deputies to get the information.


	7. Chapter 7

Camera cuts to the brothers driving up to a house along the edge of national forest. They are still in their FBI disguises as they clamber out of the Impala.

"Well, 'dear, old Mrs. Hams' was a real piece of work," Dean grumbles.

"Yeah, the way she was acting, it was like she wanted us to run off into the woods and arrest every living thing out there for interrupting her bingo watching," Sam agrees in grim amusement. "At least she has a good memory for what people say."

Dean looks a little troubled and then says, "Yeah, that gave me the heebie-geebies! Let's get something really hearty to eat after these interviews. I need a pick me up."

"You got it," Sam says as he rings the doorbell. He also looks rather uneasy.

The door opens and a greasy looking college aged guy pokes his head out and takes the brothers in with a mistrusting look.

"Are you Reggie Jordan," Sam asks.

"Who wants to know," the guy says rudely.

The brothers take out their badges and begin to identify themselves when Reggie's eyes grow wide and he bolts for the back of the house.

"I'm going around the back," Dean calls and takes off.

Sam sprints inside and has to dodge around a very messy home. Reggie is near the back and throws a plate of half-eaten spaghetti at him. Sam quickly ducks out of the way and knocks aside a bowl of stale popcorn that is also launched at him. Reggie throws open his back door and bolts out to be tackled hard by Dean.

"Hey now then, kid, this is looking really suspicious," Dean says angrily as Sam joins him outside.

"I swear, it wasn't me who stole copies of the Force Awakens and then sold them," Reggie pleads.

"Don't worry, we are not here about the movies, we are here because of the strange music you have been hearing," Dean says, pulling Reggie to his feet.

"What," Reggie asks bewildered.

"We have some questions for you," Sam interjects. "Let's go inside and talk… On second thought, we can stay out here and chat."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever is fine," Reggie says, trying to backpedal and appear helpful.

"First of all, we are looking into a couple of disappearances here in town," Sam begins.

"But I never knew those guys, honest," Reggie protests.

"Hey, Reg, just listen up and answer the questions my partner gives to you. Trying to run from us and trying to deny anything before you even know what we are gonna ask looks very bad to us. You don't want us to put you away right? Then shut up, and listen up," Dean threatens.

Reggie bobs his head vigorously as Sam continues, "So, we think that these missing people have something to do with strange music you have been hearing recently. Tell me, do you recognize these words?" Sam pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and recites, "'Come wayward souls, who wander through the darkness. There is a light for the lost and the weak. Sorrow and fear are easily forgotten when you submit to the soil of the earth.' Is that ringing any bells?"

Reggie answers, "Yeah, I've heard those words before. That is the creepy part of the song. Normally, I hear a kind of Fa-la-la type of song before. You know, like Christmas, right? So I thought it was some kids partying and getting drunk until this guys belts out that in a really impressive but scary voice. I thought it was a party, tried to find it, and that old bat Mrs. harms calls the cops on me."

"Were you high at the time," Dean asks.

Reggie shrugs and says, "Sure. Probably was."

Dean just rolls his eyes.

"When did the music start," Sam asks.

"I think it was just after eight," Reggie replies.

"No, sorry, I mean how long ago did the music and singing start in the woods?"

Reggie thinks for a moment, and then says, "It was about a month back… Yeah, I remember because some hippies from the woods were going to bring me some excellent shrooms and they never showed, and oh… Forget about that.. What about shrooms? I know nothing!"

Dean then says, "Give us all of your stolen copies of every movie you've ripped and we'll promise not to report it."

"Sure thing! Wait…"

"Well aren't you the sharpest tool in the shed," Dean mutters.

"In any case," Sam overrides. "How often has the singing been happening since it started up?"

"Like every third night, I think."

"Ok, well, here is our card. Call us the next time the music and singing starts up," Sam says as he hands Reggie a card. The kid takes it and runs off to his house.

"I can't believe kids these days," Dean mutters to Sam. "I mean, look at him. How is he still alive when he is that stupid?"

"Search me," Sam answers back.

The brothers soon leave to go and speak to the Millers, Dean's arms full of illegally ripped videos.

"Well, at least the visit wasn't a total loss. We got the confirmation that the song being sung here in the woods is definitely the same that we heard in our dreams. Also, we now have copies of the Force Awakens before anyone else!"

"I'm glad that you can be so peppy right now," Sam grumbles.

"Buck up Sammy. Yeah, we now know that there is something out here that is probably after us. I'm just trying to stay positive!"

The boys soon arrive at the Millers and go to the front door. They knock, but find no one is home. A neighbor comes from across the street and greets them. he is a young man in his early twenties, and somewhat stylishly dressed with a nice haircut.

"Good afternoon gentlemen! I'm sorry, but if you are trying to reach the Millers, I'm afraid that they left earlier today for vacation."

Sam gives the man a surprised look and says, "But it's a school week. Why would they go on vacation now?"

"Search me," the man says with a shrug.

"Come on," Dean teases. "Who wouldn't want to get away from school? But seriously, maybe you can help us out."

He pulls out his badge and introduces himself, "I'm Agent Trigger, and this is Agent Stiles. We are here investigating the possible kidnappings of some this town's residents."

The man offers a handshake and says, "I'm Jack Bower. It must be pretty serious if the FBI has been called in to help solve the case."

"These sudden disappearances and their circumstances match a killer we have been trying to catch for some time now," Dean explains.

"Mr. Bower-" Sam begins.

"Please, call me jack," Jack responds with a grin.

"Right, Jack… Can you tell us if you by chance have heard any kind of strange music coming from the forest behind the Miller's home?"

"Music? No… Why?"

"The man we are hunting likes to psych out his victims before taking them," Sam answers. Jack begins to look somewhat uncomfortable.

"Is everything okay, Jack," Dean questions seriously.

"Yeah, well no. It's just… That just sounds really disturbing. I came here for the quiet life. I would never have expected some kind of killer, and an insane one at that, to come here to Leavenworth. But I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the people who disappeared, or about the music others may have heard."

"Well, thank you for your time," Sam says. "Here's our card. Please give us a call if you see or hear anything suspicious."

As the brothers walk away Dean comments, "There's something off about that guy."

"Like what?"

"What kind of young man, who dresses like that, comes looking for the quiet life?"

Sam shakes his head, "Not all of us are rolling stones, Dean. And not everyone who dresses like a fratboy actually lives like one. Trust me, I know."

"Still doesn't mean that there isn't something off about him," Dean huffs.

The camera cuts to a shot of the Winchesters driving up to nice home with a mailbox that reads Penny on the side. The brothers climb out of the Impala and go up the front steps to the door and Sam knocks. A sexy, middle aged woman comes to the door and greets them.

"Good afternoon ma'am," Sam says. "I'm Agent Stiles and this is my partner Agent Trigger. We are looking into the disappearances of Ethan Myers and Dan Hatch. The sheriff told us that you were the last one to see Mr. Hatch before he went missing. Is that correct?"

Jenny Penny gives Sam a flirtatious look and says, "That's correct. Would you like to come in and I can answer your questions."

"That would be great," Sam says with a wary smile.

"I can also make some food, if you'd like. I particularly good with… _sandwiches_ ," she says looking pointedly at Dean now.

"Well, uh… Show us in then," Dean replies awkwardly.

Jenny Penny swings on back and walks down the front hallway, making extra sure to shake her butt at the brothers. They share a look and Dean mouths, "What the hell?"

Jenny seats the Winchesters down on her couch and she composes herself on her armchair in the most seductive way possible. Sam tries to focus while asking his questions, "How late into the day was it that you saw MR. Hatch?"

"I don't know, probably around 9 pm. I was coming back from ladies' night at the bar," she answers with a measured toss of her hair. She eyes the brothers hungrily. Dean begins looking anywhere else so that he can keep his mind on their work.

Sam continues, "Where was it exactly that you saw him?"

"It was in Enchanted Park. He was taking a walk by the looks of it."

"Was there anything out of ordinary? Like strange sounds, smells, people you didn't recognize. Anything that might give us a clue."

"Well, no. In a small town like this, you know most people and anything out of the ordinary sticks out. We just don't get new people here, so it's nice to see some new faces once in awhile," she says with grin and thrusting out her cleavage for the boys to notice.

Sam and Dean both glance down and finally Dean says in a slight daze, "So really, there was nothing weird about that night when Mr. Hatch went missing? It was just another boring night."

"Well… If truth be told… Well, you'll forgive me if I come across just a tennsy bit odd in saying this?"

"Don't worry, we've heard it all before," Dean encourages.

"I felt uncomfortable for some reason. Like it was… despair. I know that sounds crazy." She pauses and then leans forward, "Maybe I was getting a sense that he was going to vanish. Could that be it?"

"So this despair," Sam interjects quickly. "Did it come suddenly, or was it pervasive?"

"That's an odd question," Jenny remarks. "But, if I remember correctly, I think I had the feeling right as I entered Enchanted Park. It's a little difficult to recall. I was kind of tipsy at the time." She gives them a wink.

"Hmm… Well thank you. I think that that will be all for now. We should get ourselves going and check out the scene," Sam says hastily.

The boys rise up from the couch and Jenny protests, "Are you two sure that you don't want to stay for a sandwich? I also have some fine wine. Surely agents are allowed to indulge themselves a little."

"Not on the clock ma'am, but thanks for the offer," Dean replies and the boys quickly shuffle out.

Once they are back in the car Dean says, "Wow! I wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but with a name like Jenny Penny, I guess that's what we get."

"Yeah, it has been a while since anyone has come on that strong," Sam says. He starts laughing, "She was crazy!"

"Probably even more so between the sheets," Dean adds. "Maybe we should come back later."

Sam gives him a look. "No."

"Just kidding! So, we should probably stake out this Enchanted Park, see what's up."

The boys poke around the well cultivated park grounds for a little bit and inspect areas that might be the perfect place to jump someone.

"This reminds me of that terrible werewolf business about four years back, you know, with Kate," Sam remarks.

"Yeah, that was some messy business," Dean comments. "But what brings that up?"

"I don't know… Maybe it's how odd this whole hunt is. What has set us on this path, what has been happening to people, and now we are poking around in what could be the creature's game trail."

"Ah, but this time Sammy, the hunter will be the hunted."

"That could apply to any of us Dean," Sam retorts.

"Well maybe not, look what I found."

Sam walks over to where Dean is inspecting the ground and his older brother points at something the slightly hardened mud. The brothers see two footprints that are quite deep.

"Wow, someone was waiting here a while. That's not creepy at all," Sam says.

"Yeah, and where these prints are facing, this guy would have had a perfect view of anyone coming down the walkway," Dean observes.

"And that trail would be the one that Jenny saw Mr. Hatch on," Sam finishes.

"It's hard to tell where this guy went after he moved, but it's obvious that he was here for a while. Maybe we should come back tonight and see if there is anyone out here."

Sam shrugs in agreement and says, "Sure, but it could be a long shot. But if helps us find out anything else, then we should do it."

Dean nods and says, "Then we will come back after the sun goes down and spend an hour or two keeping an eye on this spot and see what we find."


	8. Chapter 8

Later that night, the boys enter the park from an area where not a lot of people pass by and where the foliage is pretty thick. They hope that no one will see them and think that something suspicious is going on. Also, they hope to not alert any pervert or monster who might be lurking in the park. The brothers tread cautiously through the underbrush as they make their way to where they earlier found the footprints. They see a shadowy figure standing in roughly the same place where they found the deep footprints. He is standing by himself and is fingering an axe. The brothers nod to each other and with grim faces begin to creep forward to the lone figure. They pause as a young lady jogs nearby and passes the shadow. Once she is gone they hear an audible sigh and the man's axe hangs loosely from his left hand. A deep, dark voice suddenly fills the air.

"Why did you let her go?"

The man jumps in fright and pulls out an old style lantern that illuminates the scene. The boys barely manage to hide from the light in time.

"Stop lurking in the shadows, if you want to speak, then come and face me!"

"Brave words boy, but they do not mask the fear you feel in my presence."

The Winchesters see that the man with the axe and the lantern is Jack Bower. He looks really uncomfortable.

"I repeat, why did you let her go? She would have been a perfect candidate for the lantern."

"I-I don't know… I mean, I already have plenty of trees to cut down and make into edel oil, so I figured it might not be necessary. Plus… plus, she reminded me of her, alright? She looked like Maggie, and so… I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

Dean mouths to Sam, "what the hell?"

Sam just shrugs in bewilderment to his brother. he looks around but cannot see the source of the voice.

"You are a fool," the voice breathes. "Only a foolish man would not do everything in his power to save the woman he loves."

"Shut up! You know I'll do anything for her," Jack shouts to the night.

"Really? Then learn some wisdom boy: the edel oil burns quickly. A soul is a powerful thing and needs constant nourishment in order to survive without a living vessel. That warmth and love you feel emanating from the lantern is a beautiful soul that needs fuel. Take heart that your Maggie is such a wonderful soul, because otherwise she might have gone out already. But a flame such as she needs the oil. A small of family of edel trees is not enough! But I already explained this to you. I feel like you don't really love her."

The voice says that last bit with real contempt, like a vicious sneer.

"But I-"

"Don't worry, Jack. You are in luck. There are two men here in the woods trying to stop you. Cut them down, and free yourself from their interference, as well as keep your fiance's soul burning brightly."

The boys look at each other in surprise as Jack shouts out, "Show yourselves!"

He swings the lantern in their direction. Dean heaves a sigh and shows himself.

"Dean, no!" Sam hisses.

"Come on Sam, we need to do this," Dean mutters. "Ho, Jack. What are you doing here?"

"Agent? What are you doing here?"

Sam reveals himself as well and then says, "Jack, we heard what is going on. Do you really think that Maggie would want this?"

Jack suddenly looks like he might cry as he says, "I don't know! She just collapsed one day from a sudden illness. A week before we were to get married! No one helped me. I prayed for help and he came. I knew she was going to die if I didn't do something; she's my world!"

"Yeah, but you are destroying the lives of others. I cannot imagine that any woman would want that, no matter how much you loved her," Dean retorts angrily.

Jack looks down at the ground, a look of utter despair on his face. He puts down the axe and lantern. The boys approach cautiously. Suddenly, Jack leaps at them and decks Dean across the face before wrestling Sam to the ground.

"I was in the marines! I can take down guys like you all day," Jack snarls as he strangles Sam. Sam manages to get a good hit in and kicks Jack off of him. Dean catches Jack from behind, but the Marine drops his weight and lands low. He kicks out Dean's feet and the wrestles his gun away.

"Look, all I wanted was to-"

Sam shoots Jack in the leg and drops him. Jack doesn't shout in pain but suddenly and frantically scrambles on all fours towards the lantern.

"No, I have to get away! Maggie! Please!"

Dean gets up and kicks Jack in the wounded leg, causing him to finally cry out and stop just short of the lantern.

"Alright Jack, the game is up." He walks over a picks up the lantern, causing Jack to shout out once more in dismay. "You can have this back, but only after you answer some questions of ours."

"Anything. Please, just don't drop it! Her soul is in there!"

"Dean, that doesn't look like any receptacle for a soul that we have come across before," Sam observes.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough. So, you killed everyone who has gone missing?"

"Yes," Jack pants.

Sam meanwhile looks around them trying once more to find out the source of the voice they heard.

"The Millers, too. I… I killed them," Jack confesses. "It was this guy. He came to me and Maggie once she collapsed from the strange illness. He-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Two bright eyes appear in the distance and a dark figure stalks forward.

"Stay there," Sam says. "Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!"

The figure laughs and Sam drops to the ground writhing in pain and foaming from the mouth. Dean rushes over to him and puts down the lantern by his brother. Music begins to fill the air, the same music the brothers heard in their dream.

"Dean Winchester," the figure says as it draws nearer. "I know that if your brother dies right now, there is no bringing him back. Neither of you can cheat death again. Except through one way."

"What do you mean?"

"Sam is dying right now, and will succumb in a few minutes, but you can save him if you put his soul in the lantern and feed it. That way you can have him with you constantly."

"No way, you did this to him. You can stop it!"

The shadow draws near the light of the lantern and a towering figure with curling horns sprouting from its head like an ancient tree approaches. A billowing cloak shrouds most of the body and rest remains in the darkness.

"Sadly, I cannot. But I feel like this may be a deal that you'll leap at. If I put your brother's soul into the lantern he will live on forever and you will become my woodsman. With the skills you already possess as a hunter and equipped with my knowledge and weaponry, you will live a full life alongside him and always be able to keep him safe. Is that not the duty of the older brother, Dean?"

Jack gets up shakily and shouts in dismay, "But what about Maggie? You promised me that she would be safe! You-"

He gets choked off as the Beast makes a lazy gestured with his shadowed hand. Jack teeters and falls to the ground silent. Sam is thrashing a lot less and is expiring quickly.

"Dean," the Beast says soothingly, "Let me help you. You can still save him, just let me put his soul into the lantern."

Dean looks at his brother in dumbfounded desperation. He is scared and and all the gears are spinning in his mind as he tried to figure out what will be best.

"Sam… Sam, please forgive me… I-I…"

He looks at the lantern next to him and reaches for it.

"That is right Dean," The Beast encourages. "Take up the mantel of lantern bearer and save your brother."

An expression of anger crosses over Dean's face.

"Look here, you fugly son of a bitch, I have had it up to hear with you and your lantern! Just… Wait a moment…"

"Sam doesn't have a moment," the Beast interjects.

Dean picks up the lantern and gets up. A realization begins to dawn on his face as he says, "You know, at first I just thought that you had a creepy obsession with this lantern. But that wouldn't make sense. You are a creature with a purpose, you have a plan. Why would you care about the souls of other people's loved ones, just to have countless others killed. No, none of that would make any sense."

He walks up the Beast and opens the lantern.

"I think it's your soul inside of here."

"No! Don't do anything foolish! Your brother will die without my help!"

"If he does, that is on me. But he would never forgive me if I sucked his soul out and killed innocent people just so I could keep him around a bit longer. Death comes for us all, and now it comes for you."

The Beast screams a darkness shoots out to consume Dean, but he calmly and quickly blows out the lantern's light and the darkness immediately abates. The creatures falls forward in a tangled heap and ceases to move. The darkness abates. Sam stops thrashing and foaming and groggily sits up.

"Dean, what just happened?"

"I figured out that the Beast kept his soul in this lantern and so I blew it out," Dean answers. He goes to help his brother up as Jack begins to crawl towards the corpse.

"You lied to me," he whispers. "She's gone.. she's gone…"

The Beast is in a heap of mouldering old coats and scattered bones and Jack begins to pull them apart.

"Poor guy," Sam says a little breathlessly.

"Yeah, that monster really took him in," Dean mutters.

"What do you think we should do with him," Sam asks.

Before Dean can answer Jack gives a cry of surprise.

"Maggie!?"

The brothers hurry over and see a young lady in the middle of the coats and bones. She is very pale, but appears to be breathing. The Winchesters help Jack untangle her from the mess. Sam begins rifling through the clothes and finds an ancient looking book. They decide that taking Maggie to the hospital will be the best. Dean helps Jack get her into the Impala, while Sam burns the remains of the Beast for good measure.

Once at the hospital and Maggie is admitted, the boys pull jack to the side and talk with him.

"Look Jack, you have done pretty screwed up things, but we know why you did it," Sam says. "The right thing to do would be to turn yourself in for the murders that have happened here. That would mean though not being with Maggie, who you tried to save. We understand if you want to be with her. If you decide to stay with her, then you need to get out of here, assume a new identity and stay away from the supernatural for the rest of your life."

"Otherwise you will have to deal with us. Just this once, we are giving you the chance to get off the hook," Dean puts in.

Jack looks down and says, "Thank you. I-I will need some time to think about it. Thank you for saving her and freeing us from that monster. I will talk to her and we will decide what is best. Once she has recovered."

"Alright," Sam responds. "This is rough, but we hope that you make the choice that you can live with."

The brothers leave the hospital and go to the Impala, which has the lantern, the ax, and the book stashed in the trunk. As the brothers climb into their car, Sam turns to Dean and says, "Look Dean, thank you."

"For what?"

"For making the choice that you did, back there in the park. It is scary knowing that this life is our last. No more second, third, or whatever chance we are on now. But you did the right thing by fighting the Beast rather than taking the easy choice."

"I knew neither of us could live with that decision… The Beast was right that it is the older brother's duty to look out for his younger brother. But he was only half right. Both brothers have to be at peace with what they do. We are partners, and that means we work together, not that I dictate to you how we live and die, or the other way around."

"I get it," Sam says with a small smile. 'Let's get this stuff back to the Bunker and see what these collectors are going to do with it."


	9. Chapter 9

Liz and Roberta make their way through the campus towards one of the older buildings. They have already spoken with Professor Cunningham's teaching assistant said that she hadn't seen the man for a day and that she had to take over his classes. They are in the direction of his office. As they walk along the breezeway Roberta says, "So what do you think the professor wants us to check out?"

Liz responds, "I'm not sure. But he better not have been tampering in the supernatural again! I don't want to go through another experience like we did before. That fang was a sucker to kill!"

"Maybe he just wanted to see you again?"

"No, he's not my type."

"Who, the professor, or the vampire?"

"Both," Liz says flatly.

Roberta laughs at the comment as Liz opens the door to a building. They make their way to the office, but find it locked. They knock, but no one answers.

"Yes, I love getting to use these," Roberta says as she kneels down to pick the lock.

Liz looks up and down the faculty hall to make sure they are not discovered.

"Be quick," she hisses.

"You can't rush art, hon. There!"

Roberta gets the door open and the two of them enter the office. They find it a total mess, as though someone fought multiple monsters and tore the place apart.

"What happened here," Liz says slowly.

"I don't know, but I am not cleaning this up," Roberta retorts grumpily.

The hunters shuffle through the upended furniture and torn sheets of paper all over the floor. They make their way to the desk and see nonsense words etched into the wood.

"This guy was seriously off his rocker," Roberta comments. "This makes no sense. I think the nutty professor has once again gotten himself involved with the supernatural."

"Looks like it," Liz comments grimly. "I cannot figure out at all what these scratches mean. Maybe there is something else in this room that we can use as a clue…"

Roberta takes out her phone and says, "Hold on. I'm going to take a picture of this."

She does so as Liz pokes around the rest of the room looking for more clues.

"We should get out of here soon. This places is giving me some major creepo vibes," Roberta complains.

Liz stoops down and picks up a piece of paper. It has a double wheel symbol drawn on it with a cartoonish triangle figure wearing a tophat in the center.

"This is really bizarre… But you are right we should get going from this place," Liz replies as she folds the paper and puts it in her pocket. "Do you think we should tell anyone about this?"

"Nope," Roberta says quickly. "I do not want to be responsible for cleaning this up!"

The two hunters lock the door from the inside and leave. The camera focuses on their retreat through the door. The strange symbol is visible from Liz's backpocket with the triangle guy looking out. The camera then pans and focuses in on some of the pictures in the office. Professor Cunningham is the same man as Bernard Minsk.

The brothers are back at the Bunker and meet with Castiel.

"So this is what the Beast used in his killings," the angel muses as he looks over the ax, lantern, and magic book.

Sam nods and says, "on the trip I took some time to read through the book. It was a little difficult, because some of it was in French, but I found out that what this man did was try to cheat death by separating his consciousness and soul from his original body. He kept his soul in the lantern and made it more powerful by feeding off of the life force of innocent victims through the ax. Whenever someone is killed with it, the soul kept within the lantern is fueled and made stronger. This gave him incredible powers, so that he could cast spells without incantations. He knew his body would still decay, and so he transferred his mind in way to different bodies. This way, he always had a fresh body to use. And then he reinforced it with magical defenses."

"But why use the young man to do his dirty work," Castiel asks.

"Because the man was an ancient sicko," Dean interjects. "From what Sam discovered, the guy liked the idea of torturing others by making them kill his victims with the hopes that they were doing some good. There was a note that he said the deception helped to further fuel his powers."

"Yeah, this man was really a monster… Beast was a good name for him," Sam says quietly. "We don't know how many lives he destroyed, but he is finally dead and gone. Dean extinguished his soul."

"But how did a mortal get his hands on such dark, evil powers," Castiel ponders.

"You're gonna love this Cas. If the psychotic ways of killing people and keeping himself alive for hundreds of years weren't enough, the guy wrote in his journal that a triangular demon with blue flames gave him the powers needed to pull of his magic tricks. The demon's name was Bill, and apparently he was a snazzy dresser," Dean scoffed. "I doubt that is credible though. I just think this dude was totally off the reservation."

"Have you ever heard of anything like a triangular demon with blue flames before," Sam asks Castiel.

"Never," Castiel replies dryly.

"Well, I'm going to have a look through the lore and see if there is anything we might have missed," Sam says.

"You can do that," Dean calls. "I'm going to make us some grub and then figure out what we can do when those guys come knocking for the items we took."

Castiel walks over and touches them, inspecting the materials closely. He finally looks up somewhat confused and wanders over to Sam in the library.

"Sam, we need to talk, those things you and Dean brought back, they are not from this world."

Sam looks over to Castiel with a frown. "What do you mean, Cas?"

"I'm saying that I touched them, and while i could feel the evil intent behind them, they felt… foreign… Like something that does not belong in this world. I don't know how best to explain it, but I could feel my Grace being repelled by the mere nature of the objects. It's something that I doubt you and Dean as humans could have noticed."

"Then, what we might be dealing with… This particular demon…"

"It might not be from this world, Sam. Or even from our universe," Castiel says warily, an intense look in his eyes.

"Is something like this even possible?"

"Beings such as the Darkness, Death, God himself come from a time when their powers and knowledge defy what even we angels can comprehend. Maybe this demon originates from something or somewhere back before the beginning of creation. But that would mean that we have no idea of his origins, his goals, his powers. Nothing, Sam."

Sam runs his hands through his long hair and exhales slowly.

"We need to let Dean know. And we should probably not hand those things we got from Beast over to those collectors. If they don't know what they actually have, it could be really dangerous for them or anyone else."

"And if they do know," Castiel asks.

"Then it would be even more dangerous," Sam breathes. "If they do know anything, we will need to question them and get it out of them. We have to know if there is another danger like Amara now running around in the world."

The two go to get Dean who is busily making some fatty burgers and explain the situation to him.

Amara is walking through the woods with a passive look on her face. Suddenly, the landscape turns black, white, and grey all around her. A high pitch and maniacal laugh rips through the air. With a blinding flash, a triangular being with a black top hat and bow tie appears right above Amara.

"Ah, the Darkness! So good to meet you!"

Amara looks up at the demon in confusion. "Who are you?"

"The name's Bill Cipher! And you are the lovely force of destruction I've heard so much about."

Bill takes Amara's hand and kisses it with his eye/mouth. Amara looks very displeased with the greeting but Bill continues on, "To be fair though, you aren't really as endowed as I thought you would be. Also, you're not a redhead, so that's another strike against you."

"The way I look should be of no concern to you, whatever you are. And my looks also have nothing to do with my power. I am irresistible to all."

With that Amara begins to suck in the air around Bill Cipher but he just looks at her sassily and summons his cane and then proceeds to spin it around playfully.

"Is that what you keep telling Dean Winchester? Come on lady, he's never gonna get in bed with you. I think he's taken an oath of celibacy this season or something."

The Darkness begins to look really angrily at him and demands, "Why isn't this working?"

"Normally performance issues are a man's problems, but it can occur to women in the rare occasion. Best to know what kind of problem you have now, then you try to seduce your next man. Maybe Dean is also suffering from performance related ailments. Hahaha!"

Amara throws a blast power his way and Bill deflects it with his cane.

"Give it up toots. You can't beat me here!"

"Why is that," Amara says as she carefully stalks around the demon.

"Because you were never ready for this kind of fight! You've been taking a nap underneath man's skin for so long that you have no idea how to fight. You have no real knowledge of this world. If you did, you wouldn't be spending your strength with useless flesh sacks like the Winchesters or looking for your older brother.

"Now, normally, I would extend an invitation to a freak like yourself to join me, but after seeing how you have a middle school-style crush on your main man Dean, and how you feel 'the burning passion of a thousand suns' for him, I can't in good conscience accept you! But I can off- Woah there!"

Amara tries to strike again at Bill, and he quickly teleports out of the way and behind Amara. He hits her over the head with his cane.

"Boy oh boy, just like that dumb Crowlster, you cannot realize when you have lost. I mean seriously? Have you ever seen anything like me before? Can you not feel my power in this realm, you useless deity?! Now no, stay there on the ground and listen."

The Darkness looks up angrily at Bill and spits at him. "Crowley thought he could control me, God thought he could, but no one is the master of me!"

Bill's eye glows red and then he says, "Fine. You will pay the price for your inexperience and hotheadedness. And when everything is done, I will bring you Dean's head on a spit!"

Bill slams his cane into the ground and a hole opens up under Amara. She falls into it and is swallowed by the darkness of her own mind. The color returns to the world around her, and she lies on the ground in a coma. The demon soars away through the mindscape laughing.

"Oh boy! The people in this dimension are so prone to collapsing in on themselves! I love it! They will make the perfect servants once I conquer this dimension and get my revenge on the Pines! Hahahaha!"

The girls drive down some back road, Roberta is at the wheel as Liz studies the odd drawing.

"That seriously looks like something out of Disney Channel reject show, Liz. I can't believe that you think that this odd drawing could be of any help to us in our investigations."

Liz responds, "We'll know soon enough if it is important or not. You're just upset that we're going to to visit with Martha to get this figured out. But this is the best lead we have at the moment. Cunningham really did disappear without a trace."

"I just don't like how she always bombards us with snide comments," Roberta complains. "It's so annoying!"

The girls pull up to a farmhouse, surrounded by shaggy, foreboding trees.

"Plus, her place creeps me out," Roberta grumbles as she turns off the ignition.

The two hunters go up the front steps and knock at the door. A gruff, old woman wearing a blue bandana around her head comes to the door.

"Oh, you two sorry excuses for spinsters are already here. Well come in and show me what you got. I haven't got all day," Martha says quickly.

As she turns back inside, Roberta rolls her eyes and gives Liz a frustrated look, but Liz just shrugs it off and enters saying, "Thanks Martha. Here this is what we found at the scene."

Martha snatches the piece of paper from her.

"What kind of joke is this? This means absolutely nothing," and with that she throws the paper back at Liz.

"Told you this was a waste," Roberta says angrily.

But Liz holds her ground and states, "Look Martha, in a place that was all torn apart, this was piece of paper, this random drawing, stuck out more than anything else. It was near a bunch of gibberish carved into the desk. Plus, we felt a really bad presence in the room. It all has to mean something."

"Maybe you girls should give those damn Winchesters a call and ask them for some ghost detecting equipment. You two were never fully prepared for a good hunt anyway," Martha snidely remarks.

"The Winchesters? Like as in Sam and Dean Winchester," Roberta breathes excitedly.

"Yeah, but they don't go for girls like you. You're-"

"Cut it Martha, before I plug your pie hole for good," Roberta warns.

"Girls, can we please get back to the matter at hand," Liz says angrily. "And then we can get out of your hair Martha."

Martha shakes her head and then says, "okay, so what is this gibberish you found?"

Roberta takes out her phone and shows her the picture. Martha inspects it and then says, "Hold on a second, let me have that phone, and I will see if we can get this figured out."

She takes the phone and struts off into a side room. The girls follow and whistle as they see a room that is decked out with fancy computers and monitors all along one wall, shelves packed with ancient tomes on the opposing wall. Martha sit down and plugs Roberta's phone into one of the computers and then gets on her landline to make a call. After a few rings she says, "Hello, this Garth? Hi ya honey. How's the Mrs? Good to hear. Can't complain too much, but doesn't stop me from trying."

The girls finally recover from their shock and Liz says, "Wait! You are speaking with garth? I thought he went missing years ago!"

"That's right, he did. But he kept in touch. Wanted to keep it quiet. Now hush! Sorry about that Garth."

The girls could hear his response now faintly on the other end, "Not a problem at all Marthy. So, what can I do you for?"

"Well, Liz and Roberta, you remember them right? They have a case that has almost no leads, but there is a funny code here. Maybe you could figure it out. I'm uploading an image of the text to you."

"Wow Martha. When did you learn to use fancy words," Roberta mutters under her breath.

After a moment, Garth replies that he has the image. He says that it might take a minute to figure out and then he asks if there is anything else.

Martha hesitates before answering, "Yeah, the girls have some weird picture of a triangle dressed like a gentleman that they found. Oh, wait, just a sec. Liz, it's for you."

Liz is handed the receiver and she talks to Garth.

"Heeey Lizzy, long time no speak!"

"Garth, what the heck happened to you!? You've been missing for so long, we all thought you were dead."

"Sorry. It's a long complicated story. I only stay in touch with a few hunters now. Maybe sometime I'll tell you about it." Garth sounds very uncomfortable, but continues, "So what is the case?"

"Well, this man, Professor Cunningham, called us asking for help. We helped him a while back when he was being hunted by a pack of vampires for messing around with things he shouldn't have. We think that he was up to things again and got himself kidnapped or possibly killed. His office was wreck and all we found were the scribbles and the picture."

"Well, my wife figured out the code."

"Hold on a second… Your wife!?"

"Like I said, complicated story. In any case the scribbles were an encrypted code. It says: I was deceived. I thought I could figure out the secret to pocket universes. I had discovered something that I thought shouldn't even exist, a book, with the ways of summoning a being who could help. Little did I know it was all a trap. But there is a pocket universe and I have to get there before he does. Please f-

"I'm gonna pretend that's not what I think that word might be. But I do have to say that the guy managed to write quite a bit. Shame he couldn't have just outright told us what is going on."

"Yeah, this is a sucky situation to say the least. But what can you make of all this pocket universe nonsense," Liz asks.

Martha and Roberta look at her in surprise. Liz begins writing down the gist of what Garth is telling her.

"I'm not sure what he means. Sorry," Garth answers on the other line.

'This makes no sense," Liz frets. "I know that something terrible is going on, but this sounds more sci-fi than supernatural."

"Well, technically, they are the same thing," Garth replies.

"Oh shut it," Liz retorts. "I mean really, what the hell is going on!?"

There is a slight pause on the other end before Garth speaks, "Okay Lizzy, let me tell you something. I have heard some really crazy things on the grapevine recently. Stuff that most hunters might not have even heard about, and then plenty of stuff the world already knows. Like the attack on the Vatican, right?"

"Yeah, we heard some stuff. Saw some things on the news."

"Well, the talk is that there is some creature that fell out of the heavens, and a bunch of bad stuff came in its wake. Some of these things have apparently already started shaking up the establishment. This talk of pocket universe could be a reference to where these things come from. Maybe Professor Cunningham was on to something, and these things got to him to shut him up."

"Then what do we do," Liz asks, feeling a great sense of unease suddenly.

Far away, Bill Cipher sits on the crumbling throne of Crowley, King of Hell, and watches the events at Martha's house unfold. Little do these girls know that he can see them through the picture.

"It looks like these mortal don't know when to keep their noses out of my business! Guess I gotta deal with them, but I have to keep myself focused on the Winchesters and the hunt. Not that I think that these girls can really do much to interfere with my plans, but the fact they are searching for good professor is troubling… And I have learned not to underestimate the little guy…" Images of Dipper and Mabel flash in Bill's eye, before he blinks somewhat angrily. "I'll have to make sure that they don't get too far. Time for some professional help."

Bill snaps his fingers and a circular symbol burns blue on the ground before him. A pillar of darkness shoots out from the symbol and then an abnormally tall figure, wearing a suit and having no face, walks out of the darkness. Slenderman.

"Hey Slendy! Long time no see," Bill says happily.

Slenderman remains impassive, but Bill seems to answer an unspoken question, "Oh you you know, I've been good. Escaping death and all that. Now I'm going to get revenge on the insignificant meddlers who ruined my plans last time. And in the process, i think I'll take this dimension as well! But I need some help."

Bill snaps his fingers again, and images of Liz and Roberta appear in the air.

"I need you to kill these two for me, okay Slendo. And you can kill anyone else along the way who helps them or see you, as are the rules you operate by. You know, I may not be much of one for rules and regulations, but I gotta say that I love what you do! So, sound fun?"

Slenderman makes for the exit of the destroyed mansion and Bill laughs, "Always know that I can count on you, kid. Go and have some fun with those hunters!"

Cut back to Martha's place. Liz is still on the phone with Garth, Roberta and Martha nearby watching intently.

"So, here's the deal Lizzy, with all of the crazy stuff right now going on, I've heard some interesting things. Part of the whole situation I am right now in. But that's for another time. Look, there are rumors that something really big is happening that is going to affect all of creation. There is one person in particular who has been keeping an eye on what's going on, and he is supposedly a phoenix. Goes by the name of Ra."

"Wait? What," Liz says in surprise.

"That's impossible," Martha exclaims.

"Hold on a sec. I thought there weren't any phoenixes left in one has been able to confirm one for hundreds of years," Roberta says. "Trust me, I've looked. Always wanted to find one. That, and a purple unicorn."

Liz gives her friend an exasperated look and returns to the receiver.

"Garth, are you sure?"

"That is the word on the grapevine. I cannot confirm it, but I have heard this guy knows some things. He has been preparing for the end of the world, and this is apparently it. Monsters of all kinds are flocking to him."

"So, what are we supposed to do with this information," Liz asks.

"Find him and ask what's up, and what you might be able to do," Garth responds.

"Where would we find this phoenix?"

"Rumor has it, he's right now set up in Las Vegas, but away from the strip. I can give you the address," Garth offers.

"Sure," Liz answers.

"I wish I could be more helpful, but what I have heard, Professor Cunningham was working on some strange things with extra dimensions, then things start showing up that don't belong on Earth, and now you're calling me, and so I gave you all I know."

"Well… That just about sums it all up nicely,' Liz mutters into the phone.

"Here, let me give you my cell number, and you can check on me, or I can reach out to you if I hear anything else."

"Thanks Garth."

"Can I have a quick word with Martha?"

Liz hands the phone over to Martha and then turns to Roberta. Roberta gives her a worried look and then says, "What have we gotten ourselves into? What did the professor get us into?"

"I don't know..."

"We need to be smart about this. Let's talk about what Garth told you over a good meal, and then we can decide what to do. I think we're tired from a trip and sudden revelations to make good decisions."

"That's a good idea, let's grab a hot meal and mull things over," Liz responds.

"If you want a hot meal, just wait a while. I'll get one fixed up for you," Martha says with a sigh as she hangs up. She gets up and walks towards the kitchen.

The girls share a look with each other before following her.


	10. Chapter 10

Cut to the girls driving at night back to where they had the fight with the Wranglers and the monsters. Roberta checks their phone and sees that they have a message from Gerald.

"Let's see what Mr. Sunshine and Chivalry had to say to us this time," she says.

"Probably some more of his chauvinistic rhetoric," Liz comments.

Roberta listens to the message and her frown deepens as she hears the message, a low level static in the background. When it's done she looks to Liz and says, "I might possibly have some bad news, or good news, depending on how you look at it. The Wranglers ran into a tall man with no face, wearing a suit, they were surrounded by static. It was hunting them, at least, it sounded like they were being hunted."

Liz looked thoughtful.

"There is something really bad going on around here. Professor Cunningham really got us into something messed up. I am almost tempted to no longer call this a case, but more like a horror movie."

"Yeah, too much weird stuff is going on, and now we are going to give ourselves up to a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. What have our lives become?"

"Wait a sec," Liz says. "This whole surrendering thing was your idea! Don't tell me you're getting second thoughts!"

Roberta shrugs and they continue on. They finally arrive at the parking lot and the girls get out. There are no signs of the fight from earlier, which is rather perplexing. The girls take out their weapons and lay them on the ground and raise their hands over their heads.

Roberta calls out, "Hey, we're here! We don't want to fight or anything. That was the other guys who wanted that. We are here to speak with Ra. We think he might have some information we need!"

There's no response from anything or anyone. The girls glance at each other, looking kind of foolish with their hands up in the air in a deserted A slight buzzing begins to fill their ears. They now share frightened glance, but then a door to the old antiques shop in the corner opens and half a dozens people pile out. They quickly surround the girls and take their weapons.

"Wow! I was actually not expecting that to work," Roberta says.

"Shut up!" A feral-looking woman snarls. "Ra wants to see you. You may not be so happy that he did." She finishes with a nasty grin.

The hunters are manhandled into the shop and led down an ancient looking stone stair way, lit with torch light. It goes surprisingly deep until they reach a set of rusting iron doors, covered in ancient glyphs.

"I don't recognize most of these," Liz whispers to Roberta.

Some of the glyphs glow and the creatures around them begin to shine with red light. The doors swing open and permit them entrance. The girls are led inside to what looks like a stereotypical living room… for a sultan! Others are recline on large mats and pillows, pulling drags on hookahs and all staring expectantly at the new comers. The place is lavishly decorated, with silky curtains hanging from the ceiling. A girl dressed like Jasmine gets up and pulls away a curtain depicting a flaming bird and reveals a powerfully built, black man with a whore in each arm, also reclining on a large, stuffed pillow. He is dressed in what looks like a bathrobe made of gold.

"So you are the ones who were ringing our doorbell," he says with a strange, foreign accent. He gestures and the monsters shove the hunters to stand right in front of him. The man remains seated with his girls, who are fawning over him.

"Ra, I presume," Roberta says pointedly.

"Yes," he says calmly. "Which brings me to an important question: How do you know my name? And how did you find my lair?"

"Actually, I think that's two questions," Roberta replies sassily.

Liz stomps on her friend's foot to shut her up and then explains, "We got a tip from a friend about you. We are on a case to find a missing professor. It was a long shot, but we were told that you would have some answers for us, hopefully."

"It's rare to find hunters who keep the company of monsters," Ra says lazily. "But it shows that you girls have at least some kind of brains in those pretty little heads, because only monsters have ever been privy to knowledge of my existence."

Realization dawns on the girls, and they share a quick look of understanding.

"Oh? You didn't know this person was a monster. Maybe I have given you too much credit then. I should have learned after all these centuries to never put stock into humans. So mundane. So pathetic. So amazingly, utterly stupid…. Like coming here, because I am going to have you killed."

He grins wickedly at them. The girls can feel the tension of bloody anticipation in the room mount. Thinking fast Roberta blurts out, "There's a faceless creature coming after us. It's been killing other hunters. Do you think it will be happy if you take away its prey?"

"Not that it would have much of a choice, but to accept my decision. I am a phoenix after all," the man drawled. "But a faceless creature… Now that is something. I knew a few like that in Japan. I'm guessing it's a Noppera-bo?"

"Actually, we're not sure," Liz says uncomfortably, obviously at a loss for why Roberta would even be bringing this up. She can see her friend sweat a little under the pressure.

"We do know that it fills the air with static," Roberta says quickly.

Ra looks down into his chest and thinks. The other creatures inch towards Roberta and Liz, but the phoenix waves his hand lazily and they stop. The girls continue to pet and kiss him as he thinks. Suddenly, a look of terror crosses his face and he looks up in alarm.

"Jessie, Michelle, Vladimir, go outside and see if you can find an impossibly tall man in a suit outside. If you hear static, come back here immediately! Go, now!"

With great speed, three vampires rush out of the room. Ra gives the girls another appraising look, but this time he is much more serious.

"I hope you girls are wrong about the creature that is after you," he says. "If my suspicions are correct, then you will have to leave immediately."

The girls are shocked, but Roberta recovers quickly and asks, "Why?"

"Because, if your description is accurate, then you might have just brought Slenderman to my front door."

"Who is Slenderman," Liz asks.

Ra fixes his eyes on her and answer, "A powerful demon unlike anything this world has ever known. He walks in the shadows that border all worlds and all realities. He feasts on children and the innocent, but he will kill anything that he looks at, or that catches a glimpse of him when he is on a hunt. If my suspicion is correct, I will have to kill the vampire who sees him. That way I might avoid having to confront that thing. But it might be useless. I just my fears are unfounded."

The phoenix seems to become more agitated the longer he talks. He suddenly gets up and begins pacing.

"How do you know all of this," Liz questions.

"I have been alive for a long time," he answers. "And because I am all but immortal, I have had a long time to think about what makes a life worth living. I discovered a long time ago that the real adventure and joy in life is that of discovery. So I have spent the past two hundred years gathering information about everything from the mundane to the supposedly impossible. And in my quest, I came across information about Slenderman."

Now that he is suddenly talking, and no longer acting like a jerk, Liz decides to question him further. She reaches into her pocket and produces the strange paper they found in Cunningham's office.

"Have you ever seen this before?"

Ra comes up and looks down at the paper. A greater look of surprise covers his face and he looks up at the two girls saying, "You are both remarkable… What have you two hunters gotten yourselves into?"

"Do you recognize it," Liz repeats.

"That is an ancient symbol that resembles the All Seeing Eye, similar to the American one dollar bill. However, the being in the center is one of incredible, evil power. However, I thought he was no more… But then again, recent events prove that something is breaking into this world."

The phoenix seems to be talking to himself more than to them. Everyone in the room seems a little confused.

"Sorry pal, but I'm not sure we are on topic anymore," Roberta ventures.

"But it would all then add up," Ra continues to say while he paces now about the room. "Yes, the attacks on the Vatican, the Library of Congress, Mount Rushmore, the sudden storms in Kansas and the feeling in the air that something is bending this world to its will. Even heaven and hell are no longer under the command of demons and angels."

"Wait, what?" Roberta exclaims.

"Sorry, but you are not making any sense," Liz chimes in.

Ra looks at them and asks, "Where did you find that picture?"

"We found it in the office of a professor who was messing around with things he shouldn't have and then went missing. He gave a frantic call one day and then he vanished. We found his office turned upside down and this was at his desk," Liz explains.

"Was this the famous Professor Cunningham," Ra follows up.

"Yes."

"I heard of his work: breaking into other worlds. I knew it was possible, but so very dangerous. It's like learning about the stars from a telescope and then wanting to go there. Better to remain where it is safe than to go to strange worlds that operate according to laws much unlike our own. The professor I fear may have opened a rift between worlds. This is possibly how Slenderman came here… Along with all the other creatures that have invaded our world recently."

"Why do you say that," Liz asks.

"Have you not seen what's on the news? Crazy attacks all over the world with no explanation as to what or who did them, or even why. Heaven and hell are shaking. And now you two and your quest to find the missing professor. I think they are all linked. I have to return to the mailbox," he mumbles the last part to himself.

"Excuse me? A mailbox," Roberta begins.

"Hm? Oh, never mind," Ra says distractedly.

"Well, quick question, while we try to make sense of a load of nonsense," she says. "How did you get all of these creatures together? I thought monsters didn't like phoenixes."

"Simple. Protection," Ra answers. "And all beings, no matter what they are, are drawn to power. By collecting information and learning, I have gained enormous power. So they were drawn to me, and now I am their leader."

"One mystery down, a hundred more to go," Liz grumbles. "But coming back to why we are here, can you help us find the professor?"

Before Ra can answer, Chief Munster strolls in.

"Vladimir and Michelle are dead," he says.

"You!" Liz exclaims. "You are a monster?"

The man gives her an incredulous look, but ra waves an indifferent hand and says, "Yes. yes. He's a dragon. Munster, was there the sound of static in the air?"

"Yes, my liege."

Ra looks at the girls and then says, "I don't put stock in humans, but I have always been a sucker for extraordinary cases and pretty faces. However, I still cannot risk myself and my followers. I hope that we can distract Slenderman by sending them topside."

"You can't be serious! What the hell are you doing that for," Roberta angrily shouts.

Ra continues, "You might stand a chance and escape. If you do, there is a mailbox, south of Portland Oregon, along the freeway. It will be out in the woods, rusty with no number or address. Ask it your questions and you will get the answers you are looking for."

Munster grabs the girls and escorts them out. The ascend the staircase and exit through the door. The static sound is loud in their ears. A body lies prostrate on the ground in front of them, as though the person was making for the door. Munster grunts in displeasure and throws the girls out. They quickly scramble for the car.

"Dang it! They still have my gun and knife," Roberta complains.

"We can get them later! Let's go," Liz says hurriedly.

As they get into their car, they see Slenderman in the distance. Liz puts the pedal to the metal and they peel out of the parking lot.

Cut back to the phoenix and his gang. A lady comes up to Ra and says, "the stairwell has been relocated"

"The doors are locked and secured," Munster adds.

"Excellent," Ra says pleasantly, trying to recover his cool and cover his fear.

The lights dim and flicker somewhat in room, and static noise fills the air. The whores Ra had brought earlier begin to scream from behind the curtain and they cut off. Everyone in the rooms looks expectantly at the curtains. Suddenly the lights go out, even the candles. When they all come back to life, Slenderman is standing in the center of the room. Panic ensues.

People run for the front door while others writhe on the ground screaming. Ran rushes behind one curtain and hides beneath a pillow. Camera cuts back to the people banging on the door and pushing, as it won't let them through for some reason. People begin falling backwards, as though they are pulled by their feet. One looks back and see a dozen corpses surrounding Slenderman who still stands there watching them.

Close up of the snarling lady who threatened Liz and Roberta. Slenderman suddenly appears behind her and the others at the door. They turn and scream. Cut to Ra hiding under his pillow, sweating and wincing as one by one the screams cut out. A few others are running around, trying to find a way out or some weapons. Munster charges the monstrosity with a blessed broadsword. It breaks mid swing as he tries to cleave Slenderman. Munster then transforms into a dragon and flies up into the air. He crashes down a few seconds later, dead as a doornail.

One lady hisses, as she tries to hide behind a curtain. Slenderman is right there waiting for her and touches her. She crumples as the static grows louder and few of the survivor's ear drums burst violently. Cut back to Ra as he waits under his pillow. Finally all of the commotion and screaming stops. He tries to control his breathing as the terror takes him. Suddenly, he is pulled out from underneath the pillow and dragged across the room to face Slenderman, who stands once again amidst the piles of corpses. There are over thirty of the dead littering the once beautiful room.

"I-I-I swear, I wasn't plotting against you! I hoped that you would catch those girls and be done with it! I never-"

He cuts out as he is no longer able to speak, blood gushing from every orifice of his body. Slenderman leans close to him and the static turns to screech as everything cuts to black.

Cut to a side shot of the Winchesters, Castiel, and Crowley sitting around the kitchen table of the Bunker. They all look haggard and concerned.

"Well, what do the Wonder Boys and their dopey sidekick have planned to get us out of this mess," Crowley says sarcastically, breaking the silence.

The Winchesters just stare at the table, silent. Castiel finally gets up and says, "I have to check on Heaven. That strange, dorito-looking demon said that Heaven was 'occupied', and I have to find out what he meant by that. I have to make sure that my brothers and sisters are alive and well."

Castiel leaves the kitchen, but in the doorway turns back to Sam and Dean and says, "One more thing, when we were fighting those men, Bill said the rules of this world worked differently than back in Gravity Falls. I'm not sure what he meant by that. It almost seemed like something he let slip in passing, but it could be a clue for you to follow while I'm gone."

"Sure thing, Cas," Sam mumbles, trying to force a smile, but failing.

Castiel gives them a worried and serious look before finally leaving completely. Crowley watches the angel leave before turning back to the boys and berating them.

"I can't believe that this is what puts you two in a slump! If I had known earlier that getting your posteriors handed to you by a bloody cartoon character would cause you to wallow in depression, I would have tried something like ages ago! In this state, you are ripe for the picking!

"Do you have any idea what is going on? What's at stake? Strange things have been happening all over the world with massive attacks at important political and religious sites all over the world, and I have it on good authority that the things doing this are not human. Nor are they any kind of creature I have ever about! Most likely, Bill is connected with it all. We just need to find out how, and then we can make a plan. So pick your sorry asses off of those chairs and act like the damn effective Winchesters that I loathe and despise!"

"Very stirring speech there Crowley," Dean says. "But we have been pulled into this whole mess from the beginning, and we find out that some floating ship has been pulling the strings and we have been dancing and singing along to whatever tune he was playing! We have nothing to go off of, to even begin thinking about a counter attack!"

Sam suddenly perks up and looks thoughtful, "Actually Dean, I think that there might possibly be something for us to look into."

He hurries off and returns with his laptop and begins plugging away.

"Is this really how you two do your hunting," Crowley asks. "Consult the internet? Any nerd and socially awkward teenager could easily do that! I thought you guys went to the books, used what is actually in this Bunker."

"Well, unlike the old farts who built this place, we know how to use all our resources," Dean says with a smug grin. "Besides, all those nerds and socially awkward teenagers have uploaded tons of useful information to the web. So why spend hours of pointless reading, when it takes ten minutes to get a quick search result?"

"Juvenile," Crowley mutters under his breath.

Sam finally says, "Okay, so here is something: Gravity Falls is an and coming cartoon about two twins who go to live with their Great Uncle in Gravity Falls, Oregon. There they embark on a series of adventures to uncover the strange mysteries of the sleepy town."

"Wait, so this really is a cartoon we're dealing with," Crowley asks incredulously.

"Looks like it," Sam replies.

Dean bends over the laptop and reads, "This show draws on inspiration from the natural anomaly and tourist attraction the Vortex. Which also happens to be in Oregon. I think that this is definitely something we can check out."

"There we go: there's go and get 'em attitude you two Abercrombie and Fitch rejects you two are known for."

"Can it Crowlster," Dean shoots back.

"I agree Dean, we need to look into this and see what we can discover. But we should probably wait for Cas and see what it is going on in Heaven before making a move. Just in case Bill has been pulling up there what he did to Crowley and hell."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. I'll get whatever we can use against this chip demon ready and packed," Dean responds.

"And I'll do more research on the show and see if I learn anything new," Sam adds.

"And I guess I will go into the corner and pretend I don't exist, why don't I?" Crowley asks impatiently.

"Oh no you don't," Dean begins. "We still need more intel on Bill. See what you can scrounge up and let us know as soon as you find out something interesting."

"I don't take orders from you Dean," Crowley sneers. "But we do need whatever we can get. So consider it done."

With that Crowley vanishes.

A few hours later, the boys have everything packed in the Impala and are waiting around with a beer for Castiel and Crowley to come back. Crowley comes into the Bunker first and looks a little deflated.

"Well, hell is completely in the clutches of that Bill Bloody Cipher. He has had them redecorating the entire place like they are about to throw a big party. The word is that there are some 'guests' who will be arriving and then they intend to turn this world upside down. In the meantime, a massive amount of manpower has been sent to, you guessed it, the Vortex! It looks like they have been excavating a site, looking for something that Bill has been desperately seeking.

"So bad news is that we will be going into a place that is literally crawling with hundreds of demons. Oh, and I almost forgot, the Dorito Chip has already summoned a creature from another dimension to help in his schemes. I didn't catch a name, but it has my men freaked out."

"Great, and what's the good news in all that," Sam asks with an exasperated and sarcastic look.

"There is none," Crowley says matter-of-factly.

"Wait, how can they be your men if they all work for Bill Cipher," Dean asks, seeking to start a fight.

"I may not have my throne, but I am still their king," Crowley retorts arrogantly.

"All hail the king," Dean says, toasting Crowley with his beer bottle. "Where _is_ Cas?"

"Right here," Cas says from behind.

Jumping slightly, Dean turns to face Castiel, "Dude! Don't freak me out like that!"

"Sorry."

"What's the word up in heaven, Cas," Sam asks looking worried.

"When Bill said it was occupied, he meant that heaven has been conquered," Castiel says with a deep frown.

"How is that even possible," Sam exclaims. "Is this Bill's doing? I thought heaven was impregnable except to, you know, angels!"

"Well, I talked with some of my brothers, but had to leave before my presence was discovered. According to them, an army marched up through the sky and entered heaven. A man at their head was clad in brilliant white armor and he cut down about a dozen angels effortlessly. His troops overwhelmed angels left and right and demanded surrender. They did…

"Ever since then, this army and its white knight have been directing the angels to track a thing they call the Abomination. It has been what attacked the Vatican, D.C., and recently Mount Rushmore. They say that it is here for something and they need to kill it before it reaches its objective. The angels are using angel radio to relay information all over the globe as they hunt this thing. It could be that this thing is Bill Cipher, but I'm not sure. No one I was able to speak with knew of the demon."

"This is totally insane," Dean mumbles to himself.

"Yes, we know," Sam says. "Well Cas, we need to get moving. We know where Bill is at the moment and we have an idea of what he is up to. We'll fill you in on the way. There isn't much time, I feel."

"I get shotgun," Crowley called.

"Absolutely not," Dean protests.

"What's the matter Dean? We can't be chums again?"

"Bring that up, and I'll gut you," Dean seethes.

"Fine… Then I'll just meet you boys there, Squirrel."

And with that Crowley vanishes once more, and three leave the Bunker to drive to Oregon.

The girls are speeding up the freeway to Portland. The forest is zipping on by when Roberta calls out to Liz to quickly get off the freeway. Liz locates the next turn-off and they back track. They find a series of mailboxes standing there in the woods, but all of them are numbered and claimed.

"This escapade is in no way doing my engine or its gas milage any favors," Liz complains.

"If only that stupid phoenix had given us actual coordinates to follow, instead of an entire freaking highway!" Roberta throws up her hands in frustration.

"I think we have to consider the possibility that he was pulling our leg," Liz muses.

"Probably… Who has ever heard of a magical mailbox before anyway? Still no luck getting a hold of the hag either?"

"Nope."

"Great, well let's get back on the road. I don't want that thing catching up with us again," Roberta says with a shudder.

Liz scans the woods and comments, "We haven't seen him for the last fifty miles, but he has amazed me with how fast he can move… Yeah, let's get back in the car."

The girls climb into the car and continue on up to Portland. Cut to a house that is just down the road. A family lies dead around the dining room table, with Slenderman standing in the corner.

Cut back to the girls driving along the road. Roberta is looking sleepily out her window, watching the trees zips by in a hypnotic way. The she sees something rusty and off white in the distance. It's hard to make out through the trees, but she calls out to Liz to stop. Once again, they find an exit and quickly backtrack. They can't park nearby, so they hike through the foliage. Just within a small space free of trees, lies an abandoned mailbox.

"Well, it has no name or number on it," Liz observes.

"But how do we tell that this is the one. Besides, he never told exactly how this thing works," Roberta gripes.

"Probably put in a letter and wait for the ghost a mailman to come and get it," Liz teases.

"Crap, we don't anything to write with."

"Go back to the car and check the glove compartment."

While Roberta goes back to the car, Liz investigates the mailbox a little more closely. She opens it up and doesn't find anything inside. The whole mailbox seems rather unremarkable. Roberta returns with some scratch paper and thick, wet marker.

"We don't have any envelopes, so I just wrote something down," Roberta says showing Liz the paper and its message: _We have no idea how this works, but are you a magical mailbox?_

"That's your message?"

"Hey! Don't poke fun; it's short, sweet, and to the point."

"I wouldn't considered that sweet," Liz states as Roberta throws the paper inside the mailbox and closes it.

"You know what I meant! Hey!" Roberta exclaims as the mailbox begins to rattle and the little rusting flag on the side goes up. The hunters pull out their guns and point them at the mailbox. Nothing else happens.

"Well, you put in the paper, so you get it out," Liz says.

"Rock, paper, scissors for it?"

"Nope, not this time."

"You're no fun," Roberta whines. Cautiously, she opens the mailbox and find a letter inside sealed with wax and the stamp of an infinity symbol.

"This had better not be cursed," Roberta mumbles as she opens the seal and reads the letter. "Hello Roberta and Liz. This is not a magical mailbox, but a conduit through which I can communicate with the world. Just write whatever question you have and I will answer it."

"Okay, a talkative mailbox. That's a new one," Liz finally says. "Let's see what else we can discover from this thing."

"Oh, I have something," Robertas says excitedly. She writes something else down and throws it in the mailbox. The answer comes back with the winning Powerball combination.

"Yes!"

"Come on Roberta, we should probably be a little smarter with what we use this for," Liz chides. She takes the marker away from Roberta along with a piece of paper. She write something down and puts it in the mailbox. Seconds later the answer arrives and Liz retrieves it. Her eyes grow wide and she blushes a little, giggling. "I never knew that you actually liked-"

"NO! Shut up!"

Roberta dives onto Liz and wrestles her to the ground.

"What the hell? We are alone in the forest!"

"That is private business! No one was ever supposed to know!"

Liz manages to shove her friend off herself and then says, "At least we know the mailbox is indeed all-knowing."

Roberta comes at her again and manages to tear the paper away, then lites it on fire with her lighter. She then retrieves the marker from the ground says savagely, "Time to find out who you harbor a secret crush on!"

"Don't you dare…"

"Oh, I dare. No secrets here, L-" she cuts off as she sees Slenderman in the distance by their car. "H-He's here."

Liz spins around and sees the faceless monster turned towards them. "What the freaking vampire poop," she shouts. "How does this thing keep up with us?"

Suddenly a wave of cold air washes over the girls and they shiver. In that split moment Slenderman disappears.

"Let's get back to the car, we are going to need our weapons for this," Roberta whispers.

"We don't even know what will kill it," Liz hisses back.

"We're hunters! We're bound to have something that can at least stall it or repel it," Roberta retorts.

"Ok, fine. But where is it?"

There's crackling in the air, like an old radio being tuned. The two begin making their way back to the car when Roberta yelps, "He's right next to us!"

Liz spins to look, but nothing is there.

"He's playing with us," Liz whispers. "Come on, we need to get to the car!"

As she turns she sees Slenderman out of the corner of her eye and she jumps in fright onto Roberta's foot.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Now I saw him… How is he doing this? And why?"

"Ra was scared of him, and whatever scares a phoenix should scare the crap out of us," Roberta says, picking up the pace. She is almost to the car when she feels a chill, like the brush of death and stops. She throws at her arm and catches Liz, nearly knocking her to the ground. Before Liz can say anything, Slenderman drops out of the trees and right in front of them. Their vision begins to swirl and a harsh buzzing sound overwhelms their ears.

Cringing and screaming the two girls scramble backwards and retreat again towards the mailbox. They look back and Slenderman is still there, but the temperature begins to drop and they can see puff of their breath rise.

"I don't get it, are we dealing with a ghost on steroids here," Roberta asks wildly.

An idea comes to Liz. She backs herself and Roberta closer to the mailbox and then whispers, "Quickly, ask the mailbox what we are dealing with."

She keeps her eyes on the creature as Roberta rushes to the mailbox, scribbles something down and slams the little metal door shut. The fixture rattles and spews out another answer. Roberta reads, "The monster that is hunting you is Slenderman."

"Great! That doesn't give us much to go on!"

"Don't worry, I'm asking the box how to kill it," Roberta says shakily.

Slenderman disappears before Liz's eyes and she cries out, "He just vanished! Where'd he go!?"

She spins around as Roberta hastily slams the mailbox shut with her latest question. Slenderman appears a few trees away behind Roberta and the static sound begins to fill their ears again. Fear grips them. The mailbox shakes with a new message. Liz pulls it out and reads aloud, "There is no way to kill Slenderman in your realm. But in your case, he was summoned to kill you, which gives you a chance to escape. You must draw onto his face the face of the one who summoned him. He will then disappear to his own world… Okay so who summoned him!?" Slenderman begins to glide forward. It takes everything the girls have to stay put. Roberta writes one last question. Slenderman's impossibly long arms raise to caress the hunters.

The mailbox delivers the next response and Liz quickly reads aloud, "Bill Cipher. Oh, there's a picture of him, too."

"Liz! Jump out of the way!"

Both girls leap to the side to avoid Slenderman. The static sound is now becoming unbearable and the two are feeling a little deafened.

Liz calls out, "Roberta! Throw me the marker!"

Roberta gives her a confused look and tosses it her way. Liz shouts out, "Can you distract him?"

"What!? How the hell am I supposed to do that." Roberta shouts back.

"Just find a way!"

Roberta responds by throwing a rock at Slenderman. It bounces off of him. He then turns to her and rises up in the air, multiple arms starting to sprout from his body.

"Not good! Not good!" Roberta screams and she crawls frantically back in the direction of the car. Slenderman floats after her. Day suddenly turns to night, and Roberta begins to feel disoriented. She barely misses a tree and in what little light remains, she catches a glimpse of the Slenderman's pale head close to her. She screams and ducks out of the way. Pulling out her cell phone, she activates the flashlight app and begins trying to relocate the car. Everything also suddenly becomes abnormally quiet.

"Liz!" she screams, but there is nothing. Even her own scream lacks the echo it should have in the forest. Rather than dwelling on it, she resumes looking for the car.

Right as everything goes quiet, Liz is hurriedly copying the figure in the mailbox's return message. She has a small mag light in her back pocket. She uses to shine light onto her paper and try to copy the image of Bill Cipher on paper. It's not the best, but she nods and then starts drawing on her hand. She then looks up and realizes that she can't locate Roberta, nor hear her.

Roberta skids to the trunk and throws it open and begins pulling out salt and guns. Suddenly, she can feel him right behind her. She spins around and throws salt into Slenderman's faceless face. Nothing happens. She yelps as suddenly Liz jumps up from behind the creature and slams her hand across Slenderman's vacant visage. She pulls her hand away to show a triangle with an eye and a top hat on Slenderman's face, left in wet ink from the marker.

Light bursts all around Slenderman and he begins to contort. He starts collapsing in on himself as he is pulled back to his own world. The static cuts out and without a single cry from the creature is he banished from the world. The two girls look at each other, and then after a tense moment, they start laughing nervously.

"What the heck was that?!"

"That was the face of the guy who summoned Slenderman," Liz answers.

"Wait a flippin' second… Wasn't that the same symbol as what we found in Professor Cunningham's office?"

"Oh my gosh! You're right! We need to write another letter to the mailbox and find out exactly what is going on here," Liz says resolutely.

As the two hunters turn wearily back to the mailbox Liz says, "You did a great job distracting Slenderman back there."

"Thanks. Nice going with the fast thinking… and saving my butt back there."

"No problem."

Roberta slugs Liz hard in the arm. "And if you ever tell anyone about what you read earlier, I'll kill you."

"Fair enough," Liz replies rubbing her arm.

Soon, the girls have a full answer from the mailbox as to what is going on with their case:

 _Roberta, Liz, you are up against a demon from the world Gravity falls, another dimension, whose name is Bill Cipher. He was defeated there, but through the help of the Tscheapwhetzar was able to come back from the dead sooner than expected. He has vowed vengeance on those who defeated him before and has come to this world seeking a Dawn Shard. It is a powerful weapon that will grant him all the powers of a god, giving him the strength he needs to subjugate this world and Gravity Falls. It is a tool from another world and dimension that borders your own and had "slipped" somewhat into yours. When the Apocalypse was derailed by the Winchesters cracks in the story of your world formed, and powers from other worlds and stories began to trickle in. Like leaking water, they have pooled in specific areas that some would call pocket dimensions. Bill used Professor Cunningham's mind and research to find the cracks in your world that lead to the pocket universe where the Dawn Shard resides. Sadly, I have to tell you that Cunningham is dead. Bill Cipher summoned Slenderman to get rid of you once he realized that you were on the case and tracking him down, even if you didn't know it yet. Slenderman killed Martha and then followed your trail, killing everyone you have met along the way._

 _Now, you need to go to the Vortex, here in Oregon, and meet up with the Winchesters to help stop Bill Cipher from getting his hands on the Dawn Shard and conquering your world._

"No pressure there," Roberta says, her eyebrows raised.

"I feel like this long explanation would make for a very good theatrical reading," Liz says contemplatively.

"Well, I guess there is no rest for wicked," Roberta comments. "Off to the Vortex then?"

"Yeah, but only after a good nap and some food!"

"Amen!"


	11. Chapter 11

Three cars make their way up to the Vortex. The hunters along with Castiel and Crowley disembark and have a look around the tourist trap. The strange, slanted home is deserted and the curving forests also seem void of life. Dean and Sam lead the way around the house and ticket area. They quickly split into groups and double sweep the area. Not even Crowley nor Castiel are able to catch even a whiff of any other demons in the area.

"I thought you said that there were at least fifty other demons around here, Crowley," Dean says, sounding and looking a little rattled.

"And I wasn't lying, but it seems as though they have all picked up camp."

"That would be terrible. We would have no way of tracking them further," Cas points out.

"No," Liz asserts. "Bill is around here. This place has a strong connection to Gravity Falls, where he was defeated by the Pines family after he tried taking over the world in that dimension."

The four regulars on the show all turn to her and regard her with surprise.

"We found an all-knowing mailbox on our way here. Long story, but long story short, the man behind the mailbox has posts all over the multiverse where observes things and gains knowledge. He likes to share what he learns and he told us that Bill is here. He's looking for a sword that will grant him god-like powers, and it's trapped in a pocket dimension that only be reached through the Vortex."

"Stop sounding like such a nerd," Roberta calls from the tilted Vortex house. "Besides, I think I might have found something!"

"But we already checked that place," Dean huffs.

"Come on man, let's at least check the place out once more. See what she thinks she found," Sam whispers to his brother. He trots off in that direction.

Once inside the house, Roberta points out a small, keyhole-looking drawing on the wall. Sam leans in to inspect it.

"I know it just looks like a little scribble, but when my fingers got close to it, the air became all fuzzy around it and I felt really cold," Roberta explains.

"Let me have a look at that sweet cheeks," Crowley says lazily and arrogantly as he waltzes into the house. Roberta throws him an angry look at being interrupted by the demon and for having her Sammy time stolen from her.

"Don't start calling me nicknames, or anything like that. We aren't chummy," she says testily.

"Of course not, love, wouldn't dream of it," the king of hell responds as he idly inspects the drawing. He waves his hand in front of it and the air blurs a little. "Ah, now this is a little tricky. You got lucky there girl-"

"My name is Roberta!"

"Whatever. Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by Ms. Tight Panties over here, this is an extremely well hidden doorway to another place. Only someone with real power and knowledge in such things would have recognized this place instantly for what it was. Also, you need some real juice to get it open. But it shouldn't be a problem for me," Crowley gloats.

He presses his hand against the drawing and a dark hole rips open. The gang can see a world beyond the portal, where everything except for the rocky ground seems to be made of colored glass. Large tree and shrubs with sharp leaves and branches rise into a twilight sky.

"Ladies first," Crowley gestures.

"Then right after you," Dean says with a smirk.

Crowley scowles, but Dean waves him on. With eye rolling and grumbling, the king of hell enters and the rest follow. Once castiel brings up the rear, the portal closes and is replaced by black door in a bloodred doorframe, with a bright, white jewel acting as the eyehole for the door. The girls admire the door for a little bit while Sam gives it a slight nudge with his foot.

"It seems really steady," he replies.

"This place gives me the major creepo vibes," Dean complains. "And you were right Roberta, it is really cold in here."

"Then we should press on and see if we can find Bill," Castiel reminds them.

The group makes their way through the greenery, careful not to cut themselves on the jagged glass. Not too far into the colored glass woods, they emerge into a clearing and find Bill floating over a large stone with a large sword that looks like it has been thrust into the ground, through the stone. Bill turns to them and regards them for a moment.

"Nice work getting past my little army back there. And those knights! You know guys, trying to replace the Knights of Hell is a tricky business! But for your efforts, I think I'll give you a prize: You can watch me conquer Gravity falls before I take off your heads and use them as paper weights and coat hangers! Hahahaha!"

Bill grasps the handle of the sword and swings it out of the rock. The blade itself is easily six feet long and slightly curved, with a vicious groove opening halfway up the edge, like a hungry mouth. The sword glows with red light, but it is so brilliant that the heroes have to look away for fear of being blinded. The light dims as Bill continues.

"Okay boys, round them up!"

No less than forty demons surround the group with guns pointed at their heads.

"Bring them closer so they can see what I am about to do."

The six are all disarmed and roughly pushed forward. Bill is laughing maniacally as he sweeps the sword is wide arc over their heads. They all cringe reflexively.

"Very good," Bill commends. "If this sword pierces your flesh, it will shear away your soul and more completely kill you than any angel blade or Colt ever could! Now, watch my victory unfold! And then you CW beauties will wish you weren't so beautiful, because I am going to crunk you up! Hahahaha!"

Bill spins around with another cut of the sword He splits the very sky before them. The air parts to reveal a valley at sunset. Cliffs in the distance look like a UFO smashed through them. A small town is sprawled out before the group. The darkening sky over Gravity Falls is lit up with a strange emblem hovering over the town. But Bill at first doesn't notice. He turns back to the Supernatural gang and continues to gloat.

"This right here is called a Dawn Shard. A powerful weapon from the world of Roshar. It contains part of Tanavast's soul, but here, in this place it has soaked up other powers, granting me abilities the Almighty and Chuck never even had! I am unstoppable with this!"

Bill turns back to Gravity Falls and now sees what is going on in the sky. He looks shocked.

"No, no, no, no, no! You poor excuse for a failed deity! I thought I sealed you away for good! And it appears as though you are right in the middle of the ritual that will return you to full strength… Well, we can't have that, NOW CAN WE?"

Bill shoots a beam of power from his free hand and hits the High School in the distance.

"Hahahaha! Take that you pathetic knock off of Quetzalcoatl!" Bill lowered the Dawn Shard and then chuckles quietly. "You know what? I think I will let the Pines have this one victory and take down Ichi-kiss-butt-kicks, before I kill them. That way, I can sheer the souls of your legs off and you can sit on your butts and watch me conquer EVERYTHING!"

While Bill is talking, Dean has been wiggling on the spot. He gives Sam a knowing look and then two flash grenades drop out of his pants. Sam's expression goes from surprised, to impressed, then to exasperated. Dean ducks down, grabbing the grenades' pins and yells out, "shut your eyes!"

The gang all squeeze their eyes shut, but Bill and his minions, like every quintessential villain, don't listen and are blinded. Everyone then flies into action with the girls and brothers wrestling away guns from their captors and begin mowing down demons with angelic-blade bullets. Castiel charges through the crowd of demons, burning them with his grace. Crowley hides himself.

"Arg! That does it! I've been blinded for the last time," Bill screams.

The ground beneath the heroes lurches and they all begin to fly upwards with Bill, who increased his size to that of a two story house. The Dawn Shard vanishes in a burst of blue flames. The ground the Winchesters and friends, including Crowley (who was magically summoned by Bill back to the fight in another burst of blue fire) find themselves atop a platform of stone, shaped into Lucifer's head, complete with smiling face and top hat.

"Eat nightmares you poorly written characters of fantasy!"

Bill zaps them all with his power and their nightmares become reality:

Sam screams as he is tickled by three clown. They wrestle him to the ground and slowly pull out butcher knives to carve the Winchester up.

Dean finds himself strapped to a rocket chair and is hurled around in the air. Suddenly the belt comes undone and he barely holds on for dear life, paralyzed with fear.

Crowley is dressed in a shaggy dog costume with a bone in his mouth and with a leash around his throat. Lucifer is holding the other end and begins to beat Crowley mercilessly.

Castiel kneels before the bleeding bodies of Sam and Dean, utterly transfixed and unable to see what else is going on around him. He tries to heal them, but his grace is slipping out of him through hundreds of small, painful cuts.

Roberta finds herself face to face with a pudgy cat in a splendid vest and bowler hat, spinning a cane and saying, "'Ello, 'ello, 'ello, who crike for a stick in the pudding?" The cat begins to poke her in the ribs with its walking stick.

"IIIEEEEEE! It's everything I've ever feared!"

Liz gets zapped with Bill's power and she finds herself in the six arms of a five foot long, hairy moth with moldy looking wings. Liz is so paralyzed with fear she that she is unable to scream as the moth lifts her off the platform.

Bill continues to laugh gleefully as he watches their pain unfold. Suddenly a man drops into the middle of the platform with such force that the ground cracks and he leaves a small crater underneath himself. The man looks like something rotting is trying to claw its way out of his flesh. The man's left arm has burst open with large globs of flesh as large as his torso, tinted green and black. A putrid smell surrounds the man. His eyes are glowing a dull red from deep within his skull. A tongue like a live snake with three separate jaws waves in the air. With a gurgled word, the platform speeds back to the ground and nightmares end. Once they all land with a jolt, the strange man waves his good hand and blue flames erupt around around him and coalesce into the Dawn Shard.

"Huh? How did you do that," Bill says in horrified awe.

"You are pesky, little demon," the man responds in wet and slurred voice. "I shall enjoy devouring you."

"Not a chance you living garbage heap!"

"I am an Abomination. My will cannot be denied."

Bill shakes himself and responds, "No, you aren't an abomination. More of a freak. Look, my gang could use some extra hands, there is an open slot with your name on it. Whad'ya say?"

The man leaps forward and nearly cleaves Bill in two with the Dawn Shard. Bill just barely dodges, but the flesh coming out of the man's arm stretches and like a formless hand snags Bill and pins him down. He raises the sword and then get blasted in the side of the head by some unseen power. The Abomination loses its grip on Bill and flies to the side.

"No, Bill," a voice says through the glass forest. "That thing will never join you. It only desires to take you apart, use you, and eat you. Isn't that right Abomination?"

A venomous hiss answers.

The whole gang crowds close together as they see demons running frantically out of the glass woods, chased by people who were once human. These beings' faces are melted and dull red eyes shine through the goupy string that were once their eyes. Whenever one gets a hold of a demon, the demon's soul is ripped bloodily out of the vessel and flows into the now shapeless mouth of the things.

"What the," Liz begins.

"Hell," Dean finishes in horror.

The new creatures are almost upon them when arrows come flying out from the glass forest and pierce them, causing them to light on fire. They shriek like dying cattle as they roll around on the ground in pain. The Abomination screams and charges.

The voice speaks again, "To answer your rhetorical question Bill, this thing used the same concept as Vanishing Spells from Harry Potter and drew the Dawn Shard from the place of nothingness and everywhere where you banished it to while dealing with the Winchesters. Once again, your cat-like tendency to play with your food has led to your defeat."

A cloaked figure bursts in storm of shattered glass from the forest, a gleaming sword with red lightning spilling out like a monsoon storm. Dawn Shard and Tscheapwhetzar blade meet in a series of violent blows. Shockwaves of power and air hit the group, knocking them to the ground. Sam pulls Roberta closely for safety, as Dean shields Liz. Castiel squints at the spectacle and says over the noise, "These two beings are not from this world."

"Congratulations Sherlock, you have stated the obvious," Crowley responds sarcastically.

The Tscheapwhetzar summons a needle into his hand with the red lightning running around him like string. The needle flies from his hand singing, "sew, sew, sew" stitching up the rift Bill cut to open up Gravity Falls. More lightning formed a hand and held the Abomination in place as the Tscheapwhetzar expertly leveled his sword at the thing's neck and thrust it in. More tainted flesh sprang from the body leaving a poor, unknown corpse behind. The swirling mass of flesh reformed itself to resemble the form of tall man with four arms. Armors seeped through the flesh and gave the Abomination more of a form,, causing him to look like a humanoid cockroach.

The Tscheapwhetzar casts the useless body aside and threw a punch behind him, causing the corrupted human to splatter away from the cloaked man.

"You are one fast spawn of a scum," the Tscheapwhetzar comments lightly and then laughs as the Abomination summons a sword similar to the Tscheapwhetzar's. It appears in a flash of purple lightning. Wielding both Dawn Shard and lightning sword, the Abomination again meets his foe.

The Abomination is skewered by blades that burst from the ground. His tongue springs forward and the Tscheapwhetzar hisses causing the muscle to turn into a real snake with long fangs. It turns on its master and pierces the armor, injecting copious amounts of venom. The snake melts into black tar that then become a multitude of hands that reach for the Tscheapwhetzar. The man throws a punch, a glowing arm the size of a building drills through the tar hands and goes straight for the Abomination, who is no longer there, but runs up right behind the cloaked warrior. His sword reacts to the attack and intercepts the incoming edge. The Tscheapwhetzar then catches the Dawn Shard between his pointer finger and thumb.

Whistling he says, "Woosh! That was a close call!"

He is kicked in the head and sent right into the glass forest with such force that dozens of trees and bushes are shattered. The glass shards glow and become a multitude of butterflies. Liz continues to shudder at the sight. The butterflies disperse poisons into the air and some shoot lasers from their wings blasting the Abomination back even further and rending his armor. They begin to fly around in a fast circle and become a colorful tornado that speeds after the Abomination. It tries to jump out of the way, but the Tscheapwhetzar whispers, "Danku." The vile creature is stopped long enough by an invisible barrier and is then swept away by the butterflies.

The cloaked man then shoved his sword point first into the ground. A shock waves blasts from him and red ribbons of power twist artistically around him reaching up to the twilight sky. The Tscheapwhetzar raises both his hands and makes a twisting motion as though he is ringing out a wet rag. He then whips his left hand to the side and mist appears to form the Dawn Shard. It drops into his hand, wet with condensation. The blade erupts with blinding light, and everyone except for the Tscheapwhetzar shies away from it.

"I can't understand it," Cas says in amazement, shielding his eyes. "This power… I can feel it dimming my own light and grace. It makes no sense!"

"But how can that be," Sam aks in bewilderment. "You're an angel. A heavenly being… Couldn't only God shine brighter?"

"Didn't Bill say something about the powers of that sword being greater than the Almighty," Liz asks.

"But if that is true, and I'm inclined to say that it is, how can this man so easily hold on to it," Castiel replies trying to look at the Tscheapwhetzar.

Two ogres made of stone rise up from the ground next to the Tscheapwhetzar. They raise their arms and begin to chant in gravelly voices and storm clouds begin to form overhead. The cloaked man grabs up his other sword, raising both in a bizarre fighting stance. Black, dragon wings sprout from his back and with a mighty heave they propel him toward the tornado. He crashes into it and the butterflies disperse. The others catch a glimpse of the two, strange being now exchanging blows. The Tscheapwhetzar wields two swords while the Abomination uses a sword, spear, and long knife, all glowing different colors.

"The look on your faces would make a wonderful postcard for this place," Bill says right next to the heroes.

They all turn to see him painting a large, canvas picture of their faces. However, their bodies look some grotesque nightmare of rotting flesh stitched to junk. A sun is dying in the background.

"I think I've really captured the essence of this place," Bill continues.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here you son of a-" Dean begins to say.

"Woah, watch it there Deanna! There might be children reading this," Bill says, cutting him off. The pocket universe become incredibly dark with the storm clouds now completely formed. The only real life now come from lightning strikes and the flashes of magic where the two super-powered creatures are fighting.

"It appears I won't get my vengeance right now," Bill mourns. "That part of my contract is up… So I'll just keep you six company as we enjoy the show!"

He summons a glass with an odd beverage into into hands and sips it through his eye.

Disgusted, Sam inquires, "What do you mean by 'contract'?"

"I wouldn't talk to this levitating, demonic dorito if I were you, Sammy," Dean seeths. "He has been the cause of too many deaths to count and he tried to kill us!"

"Yes, Dean, but I want to know why!" Sam hesitates and then continues, "And if he isn't going to attack us, then we might as well try to get something useful out of him."

"Oh yeah, because I'm all a chatter box right now," Bill responds.

Dean rolls his eyes.

"What was the point of all of this," Roberta asks.

"What!? Do you mean to tell me that that your brain is sooo tiny that you already forgot what that Blabbermouth wrote to the two of you," Bill reacts indignantly. "This is why the age of human enlightenment will never come to pass…"

Roberta flushes, but she presses on. "Tell me why," she growls.

"Revenge," Bill says lightly.

"But why involve us," she continues.

"Because it was fun! Surprise!"

Bill claps his hands and blue, transparent figures of all the friends and enemies that the brothers and friends have seen die or kill thus far on this crazy adventure begin to rise from the ground, screaming in agony.

"Hahahaha! Pain is hilarious! And you six have really helped bring the pain to this world! I played you like the sappy instruments that you are and drew you like one of my French girls. See, I even have the paintings to prove it!"

Bill produces some other paintings from behind the one he was working on. Droplets begin to fall from the sky, and the fighting continues to rage in the background. Even the ground trembles slightly. Everyone except for Crowley and Castiel immediately look away.

"Wow… Who knew sexy could look so horrifying," Crowley mutters.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Cas deadpans.

"See? I made sure that you all had the same hairy beach bodies," Bill cackles gleefully. "Ah, I think the party is about to come to its end. Just watch."

The images of the dead remain, but even they fall silent as the battle between two titans comes to a close.

The Tscheapwhetzar uses the maw part of the Dawn Shard to trap the spear and drive it into the ground. He then releases the Dawn Shard and reaches out, tearing off the fourth arm of the Abomination. It howls in pain, and then the cloaked warrior transforms the severed limb into a long, clawed, iron instrument. His eyes flashing a bright and triumphant red, he plunges the corrupted limb into the right leg of the Abomination. He quickly pulls it out, dragging silvery, thin chains from the leg's flesh. Spinning fast, the Tscheapwhetzar slices through the chains and not even a second later there is a bright flash of orange and the long knife disappears.

The Abomination now reaches with a free hand and seizes the dawn Shard. The hand is run through with small spikes that seem to protrude from the Dawn Shard. Immediately, the Abomination appears to deflate.

"You corrupted a tool of the gods," it spits.

"I do that every Wednesday night," The Tscheapwhetzar replies. "Normally right after questioning my life's decisions."

Purple tendrils of power spring forth from the Abomination and its sword. They begin to wrap around the man when his own red power shoots from him in a pillar reaching up to the storm clouds. The rain now falls in torrents as the clouds burst. Red and purple lightning mix with hot, white flashes in the sky, the ground around the two creatures begins to super heat and crack.

"I will break your hold over the Dawn Shard. I will kill you. And I will bring your blade back to my King," the Abomination snarls.

The Tscheapwhetzar laughs, "Sorry! But meeting your king in a body bag is a terrible first impression. And as you know, I have a reputation to uphold!"

The Abomination acts quickly and suddenly dislodges the spear from the ground, underneath the Dawn Shard. It pulls back and nearly scores a hit. But the Tscheapwhetzar unsheathes a small knife of his own and fire spews out and like a swarm of locusts and surrounds the Abomination, setting it ablaze. The cloaked man leaps into a frenzy and begin hacking away at the monster before him with a great fervor. A skeleton with low, glowing eyes bursts from the flames, clad in what looks like a bear skin toga. The spear and the sword still in its hands. The rain suddenly freezes the escaping figure in place and the Tscheapwhetzar jumps through the flames and wriggling, seared flesh the skeleton left behind. He then brings his sword point down through the skull and slams it into a unseen heart. For a brief moment, more chains appear. They connect the skeleton to the weapons and the charred flesh. With a bright flash, everything connected by the chains shatter. Sam and Dean catch a glimpse of two small, shimmering objects falling to the ground. The rain continues.

They all watch quietly as the victor retrieves that fell to the ground. He pockets the small items and then makes his way over to them. Sam and Dean tense. The girls can see it. Crowley shifts uncomfortably, while Castiel stares forward and contemplates the approaching man.

"What exactly are you," he asks the cloaked being.

"I am sadly something beyond your comprehension, Cas," the Tscheapwhetzar responds. "But if you must have a name, call me Dragon."

"Was it you who conquered heaven?"

"It was."

Castiel bows his head in defeat and frustration. There is no way that he can take on this being and win.

"A most excellent choice, Castiel, a most excellent choice indeed," Dragon says and pats him on the shoulder as he walks by.

"I think the Louvre would pay handsomely for those paintings Bill," he says glancing at Bill. "They are the most horrific thing they could acquire since Picasso."

Bill turns pink and gives a false laugh, "Oh look at that! You're making me blush, but do go on!"

The Tscheapwhetzar waves his hand as though he's getting smoke out of his face and the ghost disappear. Dragon then turns his gaze to Liz and Roberta. He regards them for a moment, and then turns his eyes to some unseen horizon, as though lost in thought. He then shakes his head a little before saying, "So here we have the Winchesters. I knew that you two would make it here. Or… maybe not here perse. I wasn't entirely certain where the final battle for Supernatural would take place. Good to see that you both are still holding up after the last time we met."

"Wait… What last time," Dean demands.

Dragon turns away and gestures vaguely. "Ah, you wouldn't remember. I cut those memories away from you. But don't worry, it wasn't anything too important that I sheared away. Now, if you will follow me."

"Like hell we will," Sam protests.

Suddenly, no less than two dozen raptors wielding halberds and war bows appear around the group. The dawn Shard soars over to Dragon, who catches it lazily in one hand.

"Sorry, Sammy, but you will."

They all exit the pocket universe and return to the Vortex. Once back in the sunny afternoon Dragon leads them all over to the Impala. He pats the car and it begins purring like a cat. Dean and Roberta both jump back for a moment.

"Don't do that to my car!"

The purring stops and Dragon begins speaking, "Dean and Sam Winchester, I would formally like to welcome you into my employment. First thing's first, I will soon be leaving this world and it will be left rather vulnerable. After an Abomination makes it mark somewhere, odd things tend to happen… Strange people show up."

Sam laughs in total disbelief while Dean looks dumbfounded. Liz asks, "Wait, what do you mean by all of this?"

"I'm leaving the Winchesters here as protectors of this world. Congratulations!"

Confetti begins falling around the boys; something that Bill has summoned. It turns out to be maggots.

"But how are we in your employment," Dean finally manages to ask, not realizing the maggot confetti that is crawling on him.

"Simple. Bill and I infiltrated a group of supernatural artifact collectors known as the Pentagram Palm. We took over some of the members and extended an offer to the both of you to hunt a beast that Bill created. The contract was sealed when you touched the money."

"But we didn't take it," Sam protested.

"That wasn't what triggered it Sam. Pay attention. It was the fact that you _touched_ it. Once you did, you agreed to be my soldiers until I release you from my service. Your mission is now is protect this world. Consider everything else a kind of audition just to make sure that you could handle it. Well, you passed."

"This is really not making any sense to me," Dean complains. "Any of you know what is going on?"

Everyone else shook their heads.

"Here's little more exposition," Dragon continues. "Your world belongs to a very, very, very large universe of worlds. All of them populated with life. And this universe is at war with a being who creates soldiers and monsters like what you saw in that 'pocket universe', or as we might call it, the black line on the page. They want to consume this world and all others with life. Everything that has been happening recently has been the result of our endeavors to hunt down and kill what you all saw back there, an Abomination.

"And like I said earlier, it has made its mark, so strange things are about to invade this world, which means that I am charging you two with its protection. It's a big job, but it comes with some perks. Two of which are already here and many more await you at the Bunker now. Personally, I would love to do the mopping up myself, but sadly the war calls me elsewhere now."

"Yeah, but still, Mr… Uh, Dragon… How can any of this be actually real," Sam says pleadingly.

"Yeah, and we don't answer to anyone," Dean put in grumpily.

Dragon raises an eyebrow at Sam and retorts, "You fight weird things all the time, and can't comprehend me? Ha! Well then, pray that never do. And yes Dean, believe it or not, for the time being, you are both mine. I will have people check in on you. Your assignments are in the Bunker.

"Now, I'd say that, what, 111 pages is pretty good. Don't you think Bill?"

"I could use some more time, myself."

"Sorry Wakko, we aren't on the teli!"

"Boo!" the cartoon character responds in the distance.

The air in front of the Impala begins to contort and swirl. The raptors, Bill, and other beings all begin to enter the vortex and disappear. Dragon is the last to leave.

"Take care. All of you. I know it is hard to understand now, but soon things are going to get really, really bad for everyone. It will make the Apocalypse and the Darkness appear more like the unfortunateness of finding gum on the bottom of your shoe. I just hope that we can't stop it before it gets too far along…"

Dragon looks down at the ground. Taking a deep breath, a smile appears on his face and he walks through the vortex, winking at them before disappearing. After he leaves there are little bursts of fire in the air and envelopes flutter down to the group. One is addressed to Sam and Dean, another to Liz and Roberta, Crowley, and Castiel. They all look at them tentatively, and then tear into them.

"Bloody hell… Not only does this guy expect me to reorganize hell for what he call the next 'episode', but he also says that I can't have the pocket universe that we were just in: he sealed it up! Does he have any idea how far back Bill has set me with all his happy-go-lucky screwing around!?"

Crowley is in a right state when Castiel says, "He told me that heaven is fine. A new bureaucracy is in place, but they still don't want me there. He reminds me also that I'm one of the few angels who is not a class A jerk awaiting a knuckle sandwich… This guy almost writes like he's in high school."

Liz and Roberta are somewhat teary eyed as Liz fold the letter and stuffs it in her back pocket. She then takes out the drawing of Bill and shreds it.

"What was that for," Sam aks.

"Dragon wrote saying that Bill could see through anything that bears his image. He suggested that I tear it up; Bill's been going on about I have a great butt…"

"Perv," Roberta mumbles. She wipes her eyes. "We're going to be going to make sure that Martha receives a hunter's burial. He said that would be important."

"Oh... Okay," Sam says, looking a chest fallen.

"You know, Bill was right," Dean said with a slight, suave wink.

"Oh shut up," Liz says in good humor.

"Oi, will all of you get a room? Or better yet, jump off a cliff," Crowley says in an exasperated voice. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go and repair Hell. Toodles, Moose, Squirrel."

With that he vanishes.

"No, we do mind," Roberta shouts to the air.

"So what does your letter say," Castiel inquires.

"It says that we should return to the Bunker and leave the town alone. It will be cleaned up the Pentagram Palm in repayment for Dragon and Bill did to them," Sam explains. "Like he said earlier, stuff is waiting there for us."

"I don't like this," Dean says seriously. "I'm not sure what is going on, but we need to be on our toes. Something big is about to go down. I can feel it."

The boys swap numbers with the girls, and they go their separate ways as Castiel himself takes off. The boys drive through the once war zone of a town and see shady looking individuals already hard at work clearing the place. Dean squeezes the steering wheel with fury as he watches, but they drive on. Going through the Oregon woods he finally says, "If it were under any other circumstances, I would go back and punch their lights out. At least we have a name…. Once we know what this Dragon guy is up to, we can then worry about those collectors."

"I agree Dean, but look, Amara is still loose doing who knows what out there, and now we have some people from other worlds duking it out on our turf! They took down heaven and hell in what seems to be a matter of hours! I would love to get these guys, too, but I think they are so low on our list of priorities, they aren't even on the back burner."

"Hey, the bad comparisons are my job," Dean says with a smirk.

They both chuckle and then Dean says, "Look Sammy. I know that the past little while has felt like a rushed story, full of things that we probably will never know about, but I do know one thing: We are going to pull through."

"Just like we always do," Sam finishes.

Close with the Winchesters driving off into the distance.


End file.
